The Rangers Book One El Leon
by ckorkows
Summary: Book One of The Rangers focuses on Sydney and Gage's original partnership, and the events that occurred during their nine-month undercover investigation of El Leon. There is a little romance in this book, but it's a prelude to what is to come. COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1: Partners

**The Rangers – **a series based upon WTR, with the focus on the two rangers who joined the force in the seventh season, Ranger Cooke and Ranger Gage. The characters are borrowed directly from the TV series, and some plot elements relate to certain episodes, but the main ideas are original to the author. I do not claim the characters and

**Book 1: El Leon – **What happened before they joined Walker's team?

**Chapter 1: Partners**

Gage leaned against his superior's desk, his blonde eyebrows raised as RJ detailed to him the importance of this assignment, and how it was a big honor to be put on a job like this one. Gage suspected that his boss was going to drop a bomb on him, because he normally would have just given him the damned assignment and gotten on with it.

"It's going to be a huge operation, probably several months worth of undercover work to get into El Leon's circle. We don't want an everyday drug bust out of this one; we want to take him down in the deal – personally. Trap his hand in the lion's mouth so to say. "

Gage pushed away from the desk, reaching for the assignment folder, "So when do I start?"

RJ looked up at the tall, stocky ranger standing before him. He pushed the intercom button on his phone, "Linda, send her in…"

RJ stood, moving around his desk to face the young ranger, "Here's the thing Gage, we don't want to put another person in danger anymore than we have to. Carlos was sent back in a body bag so small, it once housed a bottle of Crown Royal. But we have to break Leon's organization. From what our Intel has discovered, Leon enjoys a certain type of person in his top circle."

Gage shrugged, "Mute?"

RJ's smile didn't quite make his eyes, there was a knock at the door and he opened it, "No. Female."

Gage's blue-grey eyes widened at the sight of the pretty brunette standing in the doorway, she wore black jeans, a tight grey t-shirt that molded intimately to her breasts and curvaceous hips, and a black denim jacket that bore the star. Her face was oval, slightly tanned - Hispanic. His mouth dropped open, suddenly he was seeing a vivacious woman in gym shorts and the academy Tee, bouncing back and forth on her feet with her small hands taped into big black boxing gloves. Her brown eyes were sensual and hard all at the same time, like a dark-stained cherry wood, and she was egging on a younger version of himself, "Afraid to hit a girl Francis?"

"Cooke?" Gage shook his head, clearing out the cobwebs as he processed the scene before him. Sydney Cooke was smiling at him, one eyebrow raised in humor, or sarcasm, he had never been able to discern the difference with her. Gage quickly extended his hand, "It's been almost…gosh, six years Cooke, how've you been?"

She laughed, "Fine, working my way into the Rangers, how are you Francis?"

"It's Gage, just like it was back in the academy."

RJ intervened, "Yes, well, that's why I brought her in. She's a little green for such a big assignment, but the two of you know one another from Academy, and I thought that that chemistry would be better for an assignment like this, better than bringing in a stranger from another unit."

Gage's mouth dropped open, and the gears in his head clicked into place one by one, "Wait. You're saying that I'm going undercover with a partner? And that my partner is…Cooke?"

Sydney rolled her eyes, "Don't look so excited big boy."

Gage turned to RJ, his eyes sending out pleading signals, "Wouldn't it be better if I worked with a more experienced ranger, someone who's done a bust or two like this one? Maybe Jones or Archer is better suited to take down a guy like Leon…"

RJ moved back to his desk, leaning over it and planting his hands on either side of the file like a bulldog, sometimes, he thought to himself, you just had to get tough with these young ones, "Did you not hear what I was saying, Leon prefers to surround himself with beautiful women, and the muscles behind the women. Ranger Cooke is new to the force, but she comes with high recommendations from DPD. Sergeant Mackoy says that she is intuitive, quick to act, and packs a punch harder than a ripe coconut. Besides, she's the only female in our unit, and like I said, you have a history."

Gage looked over at the compact body of his new partner; they had a history all right. Sydney stepped up to the desk beside him, "Thank you for singing my praises sir, but if Ranger Gage is uncomfortable with having me as his partner, I completely understand," She turned her eyes, her chocolate eyes, on Gage, "But, I would really appreciate the chance to get out there and see some real action, to prove myself."

Gage cleared his throat, "Uh…uh, no Sir, no. I'm sorry RJ, you just took me by surprise, I would be more than happy to go undercover with Ranger Cooke. You're right, we studied together at the Academy and that gives us a step up on other partners. When can we start?"

RJ looked from one Ranger to the other. Gage, he knew from experience, was one hell of a Ranger, if a little reckless at times. If he managed to keep his head on long enough, he'd make one hell of a Senior Ranger in ten or so years. Cooke, well, she'd come with a list of recommendations as long as the hallways outside a court-room, but he honestly had only chosen her for this job because there was no other female willing to do it. He hoped that the two of them had run practice drills together at Academy and had some sort of chemistry between them. Leon's organization was a huge problem, and something had to be done about the increasing crime rate that surrounded the man and his 'businesses'.

"Okay, I'm giving you four weeks to get re-acquainted, train up and work some drills, you also need to become intimately familiar with your new identities, and should start showing up around El Leon's bars and restaurants. Here's the file, I need you both to be ready to move into your cover apartment by the weekend. I'd like to introduce you to yourselves, Mr. Alexander Bates, and his lovely, yet independent, girlfriend, Ms. Maria Torres, of Dallas, Texas."

Gage and Sydney both reached for the file, their fingers closing on opposite corners. Locking eyes they both tugged on their corner of the manila folder, Gage's eyes narrowing as Sydney raised her eyebrows. Pursing her lips she silently released the folder, thanked RJ and led the way out of the room. Gage was following her out when RJ told him to wait a moment.

He let the door shut before he spoke in cool tones, "Now listen up Ranger, you are going to work with her on this. Neither of you will survive this investigation if you don't act like partners. She's a girl, but I'm sure that you know better than the rest of us just how hard she has worked to be seen as an equal. If you let your hard head get in the way of us taking down Leon, I'll pull you from the investigation and give Archer or Jones a chance to work with her. Her last partner with DPD owes his life to her, so suck up that macho bullshit I know is running around in your mind!"

Sydney was waiting for him when he left the office; she'd gotten herself a coffee and was smiling as she leaned against the wall, "How've you been Francis? I hear you got into the Rangers straight out of Academy. Congrats on the big assignment."

Gage tried to smile, but it was stiff, "Yeah, well, that's what happens when you graduate first in your class."

One dark eyebrow arched, "And you're a man. You forget, our GPA's were identical. We both graduated first in our class. Look, this is a lucky break for me and I mean to see it through to the end, so I think it's best if we both accept that we're going to be partners and get a good night's rest. I'll see you in the gym tomorrow morning, and please be prompt; I like to lick a Ranger before I dig into my doughnuts."

Gage really did smile this time, his blue eyes lighting up as he draped an arm around his new partner's shoulders and guided her down the hall, "I see you've maintained that sarcastic wit of yours. I'll see you at eight, loser buys the Boston crèmes."

Gage's apartment was in a high rise near the office. He had fallen into some money when an estranged Aunt had passed away and couldn't help but purchase the luxury suite. The views were great, the kitchen had enough space for him to store his bachelor staples, and his bedroom held a massive king-sized bed that had top-of-the-line down comforters and satin sheets.

Despite the encouragement of several shots and a couple of Advil, Gage couldn't get to sleep. He lay in the thrashed remains of his sheets in a pair of skin-tight gray boxers, his head buried beneath two pillows as he willed himself to stop thinking about her and go to sleep. When RJ had opened the door that morning and he'd seen Cooke standing there, looking just as cool and confident as she had the first day he'd met her, he had lost all train of thought. He still couldn't get the image out of his head.

_The guys in the locker room were talking about one of the female recruits. They said that she came from down South and looked like a little Chiquita. They were already placing bets on when she'd quit. Gage slipped into his dress uniform and laughed at a joke one of his buddies said. He hadn't seen the Chiquita yet. _

_A whistle was blown and they all rushed out of the locker-room, eager to please and already aware of the penalties they were going to face. Gage was certain his knot wasn't the correct knot for his tie, and that his shoes were not going to be shiny enough. When they lined up they were joined by the female recruits and Gage found himself standing next to a pretty young Hispanic woman who stood just about seven inches shorter than he did. At attention and keeping his eyes forward as much as possible, Gage assessed the woman beside him. She looked confident. Her lips were tinted with a little bit of moisture, probably from her tongue, and they were shut together in a serious line. Her eyes were brown, really brown, and in the dim lights of the Academy hallway, looked almost like twin entrances to a deep, dark cavern. She wore her uniform proudly and had managed the knot in her tie better than he had, though Gage was pretty confident that hers was wrong too, but her shoes were as shiny as the Sergeants. She looked smart, calmly standing at attention like she'd seen it all before. The Sergeant had moved down the line to her and was riding her ass about her tie and the press in her pants and her buttons, he didn't say a damn thing about her shoes though, and she stayed cool as he berated her at the top of his lungs. She didn't even flinch when he accidentally spat on her face. Gage made a mental note to bet for her making it to Graduation. _

As Gage groaned in his state of half-sleep, the image changed, this time he was in the gym, gearing up for his first sparring match.

"_Gage and Cooke, you're up!" Inwardly Gage groaned, his first match and he was paired with the tiny spitfire woman that all the male recruits (and some of the officers) had nicknamed Chiquita. He didn't want to fight a woman, they simply weren't as strong as men, and his Mom had taught him good before she passed away. It was wrong to hit a woman. But he couldn't very well let her win._

_Cooke was in her gym uniform, the same as Gage's - navy shorts and a white t-shirt with the Academy emblem on the front. She was ready and waiting on her side of the mat, rocking back and forth on her toes, her hands, wrapped tightly in black boxing gloves, out in front of her. The men were cat-calling; Gage would bet that money was working its way around the recruits, bets on the winner of the match. He stalled, putting his hands up in a defensive position, waiting for her to make a move._

_She did. Three steps forward and she jabbed hard with her left, Gage barely had time to block it with his forearm before she came at him with a right handed gut-shot. He rocked back, allowing her momentum to make her step forward, rocking her foundation. He grabbed her right arm and twisted outward, sweeping his left foot under hers. She hit the floor with a smack and rolled backwards, her right arm still held by his left hand, but she grabbed his forearm tightly when she rolled, effectively knocking him off of his feet too. She rolled on top of Gage, straddling him and pummeling his chest with her gloves. He had to admit, she did pack a punch, but he easily rolled her light weight off of him and stood back up again. She scrambled to her knees, anticipating his low-kick to her face and blocking it with both arms. She rolled into him from her kneeling position. She only had enough force to push him backwards a couple of steps, but it allowed her the momentum to stand up, and she came up swinging._

_Her hair was loose, a little damp, and a few tendrils were curled around her face. She prepared for a final punch, but she wasn't wearing boxing gloves anymore. They were at a bar, and Gage wasn't the one receiving the punches, but the one standing next to her, delivering a few of his own at a second man. They were at a bar, celebrating their graduation when Sydney had been cornered by the men and Gage started to step in to help when she delivered her first shot at the drunken man's gut. The other man came up behind her, but Gage moved in quickly, delivering a quick kick to the knee to stop his progress. Suddenly they were standing side by side - partners, taking on a threat. Gage knew what move Sydney was going to make before she made it, and she anticipated his moves too. They worked together to push the dunks back, and swiftly had them floored. Her eyes were shining with excitement, her ponytail was loose and her smile was inviting. The adrenaline pumped through his body, he could only imagine the same rush running through hers at the excitement of winning their first real fight, even if it had been against two drunks in a bar. She leaned back against the wall with that self-satisfied smile of hers, Gage couldn't help himself . He leaned in for the kiss, brushing his lips across her soft skin before settling them on her full lips. He could feel them curl into a smile before they opened to give him more access…_

The alarm sounded and Gage cursed, fighting the sheets he had become tangled in. His head hit the pillows with a thud as he saw the time, and he fell out of bed, stretching a muscular arm out to hit the off button. He rushed to grab some clothes and his gym bag, figuring that he'd shower after he sparred. One look in the mirror told him that the dark circles under his eyes were a sure sign that today was going to be a doozey. But, as he scrounged around for his keys, he remembered the reason his eyes were so dark and bloodshot. A goofy smile covered his face; it might not be such a bad day after all.

Sydney was in the gym, her hands taped up as she attacked the punching bag. Left jab, right punch, low kick, jab one-two. Her hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail, swinging with the sharp movements of her attack. Her face was pointed, determined, her mouth closed as she carefully breathed through her nose. The shorts she was wearing rode up high on her thighs, revealing that her slight caramel coloring was more than just a good tan. And her Tee-shirt revealed the curve of her hips, the cotton fabric playing peek-a-boo with her flesh. A thin sheen of sweat covered her body, it was 8:05 and she was in her zone.

Gage strolled confidently into the gym, his hands taped up just like Sydney's. He noticed her immediately, as well as the number of other Rangers who were 'working out'. Most of them had stopped in mid-rep and were watching the little woman smack the bag around. Gage grinned, he knew how much she hated being looked at as a woman, especially by her male colleagues.

Sydney felt the eyes on her, she had joined the Rangers just one month ago and had taken a sort of twisted pleasure in noticing the crowd her morning workouts drew to the gym. She chose to ignore it, knowing from experience that confronting the stares would just make her seem more like a woman, which, in her field, wasn't exactly the sort of thing she wanted to do. The moment Gage entered she could feel the difference in the room. It was just like the academy, when they would spar and the officers and recruits would take bets on the winner. One recruit had gotten himself a black eye when he dared to ask her about her monthly cycle, trying to come up with a formula for winning. The officer who witnessed the knock-out punch had simply turned his back. Sydney mentally followed Gage's path across the gym, waiting until he was right behind her to execute a spinning kick that should have knocked the blonde-haired playboy right off of his feet.

Gage saw the kick coming, it was fast, but he'd learned to be faster. He ducked and stepped backward, leading Sydney toward the mats, "Nice try Cooke, but I know all of your tricks, remember?"

Sydney remembered all right, Gage was the only student who could give her a fair run for her money on the sparring mat, and he'd improved in the six years since they graduated. She smirked at those cocky blue eyes, stalking her opponent back to the mats; she'd learned a few things on the streets too.

Gage waited for her, knowing that her patience was just about as thick as air. He had lured her to the mats, knowing better than to continue the fight on hard flooring. When he and Cooke fought they almost always wound up on the ground. With surprise he realized that Sydney wasn't going to attack him, she was actually going to out-wait him and let the prey come to her.

Two could play at that game, he'd talk it out of her, "So Cooke, I see you remember the Academy days, too afraid to toss a punch at me now?"

Sydney's eyes flashed, but she held her ground, swaying slowly back and forth in a t-shirt that was developing a sweat stain between her breasts, "No, I just thought I'd let you have the honors this time, so at least you can say you had the guts to punch me first when they're mopping you off the floor."

"Yeah…right." But he took the bait anyway; aware of the crowd that had gathered at the side of the mat Gage charged his new partner, fainting to her right before catching her off balance with a right-hand jab to the ribs. Sydney took the punch with a grit that had some of the men whooping, she laid a few low kicks on Gage's shins, just because she knew that they would bruise, and countered another jab with an upper-cut to the jaw.

Gage turned into the punch, trapping her hand between his chest and arm, he brought his other fist down on her shoulder blades, knocking her to her knees. Of course, she immediately took the advantage of being floored by hooking her leg behind his knee joints and pushing into the hold he had on her arm. The woman definitely knew how to get out of all those holds they taught you in cop-training, the ones you used to effectively restrain an opponent.

Gage fell on his butt, releasing her arm because if he didn't it would have snapped, and she took the advantage to swing around and face him. Though wrestling wasn't the way Gage liked to finish a sparring match, he acknowledged that it usually took a successful cradle to pacify this particular opponent. They both scrambled to their feet, looking for the opportunity to snag a leg or whack a rib. The Rangers in the crowd were jeering a little, enjoying the exhibition match between the new partners.

Sydney saw her chance, she ducked beneath Gage's outstretched arms, snagging his foot and pulling it hard against her chest. She tried to stand and run into her attack, but somehow Gage had anticipated her takedown and had opted to reach over her small back and grab her ankles from behind. Face-flat in the mat she accidentally loosened her grip on his leg and felt him swing around her, his strong thighs settling on either side of her, squeezing her sides.

"You sat on me!"

Gage smiled, planting a hand between his partner's shoulder blades, noticing how she'd kept in shape through the years, he bent over to look into her face, which she had turned to one side. The men on the side of the mat were clapping and laughing, dispersing from the gym to start their work day with smiles on their faces. Gage whispered softly, "So, you give?"

Sydney pushed up, gaining a little leverage but not enough to rock Gage off of her, she let herself smack onto the mat again, "Yeah, you got lucky this time Francis. Now get off me before you crush my ribs."

Gage laughed, his body bouncing a little with the deep chuckle, he grabbed his partner's pony tail and gave it a little tug, "Ask nicely…Maria."

Sydney felt him rise a little and rolled her body underneath him, freeing her arms from beside her and grabbing his t-shirt. She pulled him right up close to her face and admired how handsome he looked with his blonde hair cut short like that, the other girls at the academy had instantly fallen for his guileless charm. She'd called him a playboy then, maybe she'd play on that now.

Her eyes turned molten, her accent was suddenly thick and full of her romantic heritage, "Oh please, Senor Bates…" she licked her lips and enjoyed watching the intensity in Gage's blue eyes shoot up a notch, she switched back to her normal voice and used her grip on her partner's shirt to toss him off of her, "Get the hell off of me!"

Gage rolled away, his face flushed from the exercise and maybe a little embarrassment. For a moment there, he'd seen a side of Cooke he hadn't seen but once before. She stood and offered him her hand, "Get up partner, or we'll be late for the briefing."

Gage took her small hand, and allowed her to drag him to his feet. Sweaty and energized, he made his way to the locker room, the goofy smile returning once again, "Yeah, I'll see you there."


	2. Chapter 2: The Briefing

**The Rangers – **a series based upon WTR, with the focus on the two rangers who joined the force in the seventh season, Ranger Cooke and Ranger Gage. The characters are borrowed directly from the TV series, and some plot elements relate to certain episodes, but the main ideas are original to the author. I do not claim the characters and

**Book 1: El Leon – **What happened before they joined Walker's team?

**Chapter 2: The Briefing**

When Gage arrived at the briefing he noticed two things: first, that Sydney's hair was wet and loose, tucked behind her ears as she focused her attention on the contents of the file he'd read last night; and second, that sitting beside her, on the desk in front of an empty seat, was a box of doughnuts.

He slid into the chair and leaned back in it like a troublesome school boy. Sydney ignored his arrival completely and kept her eyes glued to the profile in front of her. As Gage chomped on the first of his Boston crèmes, he tipped the box toward his partner, "You want?"

Sydney shook her head, her eyes darting across the information on the pages; El Leon was one very bad man, who apparently had very deep pockets and very, very loyal henchmen. Six federal agents and one ranger had been murdered or seriously injured attempting to break into his organization, and not a single charge could be traced back to him. No one would talk. He had drug cartels spread across Dallas, with a few popping up a little closer to the border, and he owned several nightclubs and bars around the Dallas area. Most of them were run by managers who were the only link to the inside circle of his organization. Sydney read through the list of managers and clubs, mentally mapping out the easiest route inside. Ramon. For some reason that name popped out to her, he was the manager of La Iglesia - a gentlemen's bar that was known for its entertainment as well as its backdoor business.

"You want to go out tonight?" She asked it without looking up from the file, if she had she would have seen Gage's eyes flash with confusion then acceptance.

"What did you have in mind Chiquita?"

That did it. Sydney swung around in her chair and almost seemed to snarl at her new partner, "I'm going to say this once. If you ever call me Chiquita again, or let on about that dratted nickname, I will beat you to a pulp so fine they'll put you in a bottle of pulp-free OJ. You got that…Francis?"

Gage laughed, then turned serious as RJ entered the room and took up his position at the front, "Yeah, I got it Cooke. What were you thinking?"

Sydney rolled her eyes, nothing penetrated Gage's cool-guy exterior, "There's a Gentlemen's club downtown, run by one of El Leon's cronies. I think it would be a good place to start showing our faces, working on our new identities a little. Besides, if worst comes to worst, he is known to hire women to entertain the men. Singers, dancers, and any sexy female with a pulse and a talent, this would give us a second option for breaking into the organization."

Gage stared questioningly into his new partner's eyes, was she actually offering to play the part of a sensual woman, "Yeah, I'm free tonight. When should I pick you up?"

Their conversation slowed as RJ began his briefing. There were about ten Rangers in the room, people who were going to hang around, maintain a kind of vigilance on the various nightclubs and bars around town. Gage took a look at each Ranger in the room. He knew that if a situation became too hot to handle, these were the people who would be there to save his and Sydney's lives.

As RJ talked about El Leon's organization, and the plan to infiltrate, Sydney allowed her mind to wander a little. Everything he was saying was in the folder anyway. Gage had showered, and he smelled faintly of Old Spice or some other masculine body wash. Sydney was a little sour that she hadn't beaten him in the gym that morning, but, as in their academy days, she let it go, knowing that there would be another match, and that she was already wiser for her screw up.

Her mind wandered back to the Academy, she'd worked harder than any of the men at the academy, not because she had to, but because she understood that to be in a man's world, you had to work two…three times harder than him. She'd excelled at her studies, never missed a question on a single test, and had used her previous training in martial arts to her advantage in the rink. By the end of training there was only one recruit who matched her on the mats.

Gage. Seeing him yesterday hadn't really been a shock, she'd known who she was going to be working with for this assignment, a kindness that RJ apparently hadn't extended to her new partner. She smirked a little, glancing up at her Captain, he was reviewing the known locations of El Leon controlled businesses, that too was in the file. Sydney had almost laughed out loud when she saw the astonished look on Gage's face, it was all she could do to control herself when the astonishment turned to recognition. With Gage, everything showed on his face. If he was ticked off because he lost a fight to a girl, it showed, and, Sydney admitted to herself, stung a little. If he was especially interested in a female, okay, if he was interested in one at all, it showed, so he pretty much always had a cocky smile on his face. Sydney's heart pounded a little harder, remembering the night he'd turned his smile on her.

She shook her head, stupid mistakes. RJ had a slideshow running and was going into further detail on the steps she and Gage should take to infiltrate the organization, she waited until he was done to pose a different first step, "Actually, I noticed that there's a Gentlemen's Bar, La Iglesia, and I think that I'd like to make that a normal hang out for us… at least at first. There's a chance I can get a job there, as a waitress or something, and they're always looking for a good body guard to protect their…ladies."

RJ's mouth dropped open, he couldn't help it. La Iglesia had not been chosen as an infiltration point simply because he didn't want to insult his new Ranger. And here she was, brazenly stating that she would prefer to enter the organization at such a degrading location. Stunned to silence for a moment, he was glad when Ranger Cooke continued.

"I think that the manager of La Iglesia is really close to El Leon, and it seems to me that some of the bigger deals go through at that location. Ranger Gage and I were thinking about making our first appearance there this evening, probably around eleven o' clock, just to get some cocktails and see how the staffing situation is. If we're lucky they might need another waitress, or just a body guard. If one of us gets hired, that gives the other a reason to hang around the bar on a regular basis. This also seems faster than simply befriending the locals."

Gage had to pretend to look at the doughnut box, his blue eyes were flashing with humor and he was slowly losing control on the huge grin that threatened to spread across his face. No one, in all the time he'd spend in the debriefing room, had ever offered their opinion on a case to RJ. And here his boss was, looking as though he'd just been stunned silent, and by a five-foot something brunette who hadn't been on the force more than a month.

Picking up the last Boston crème, Gage reflected on his feelings about being partnered with a female. RJ had been right to tell him to cut the macho shit out of his mind. His first thoughts had been that he'd be playing the white night to Cooke's damsel more often than he wanted to. But here she was, his damsel, shocking his boss into silence by her incredible intelligence and fearless, upfront attitude. If anything, Gage mused, he'd only be playing the white night when Cooke wanted him to. But he still had some reservations about the Gentlemen's club. Somehow he couldn't see his new partner wanting to wrap her body around a thin metal pole for male pleasure.

That thought had him turning red, and he looked over at his partner, seeing her eyes on him, as RJ recovered and agreed that Ranger Cooke had brought up some excellent points and he would allow them to begin hanging out at La Iglesia, Gage swallowed noisily and whispered, "Wait, you don't mean…you're not going to…I mean, waitress is one thing, but…"

She smiled at him, a pitying smile Gage thought, and she whispered back, "Gage, I have talents outside of police work, and though swinging on a pole isn't one of them, I do know how to entertain a crowd."

Gage gulped. Dancing, she was a dancer? A mental image of his petite new partner in a very revealing corset, swinging her hips to the beat of a sensual song had his face flushing further, if this was her plan she could just as well forget it. There was no way he was going to watch her dance half-naked on a stage for several months!

Sydney laughed, RJ had ended the briefing and the other Rangers were heading out to do their jobs, Gage was simply staring at her, his eyes staring through her as his face reddened further, RJ was approaching so she figured she should snap him out of it before he got them both kicked of the case for impure thoughts, "Gage….you-who….Snap out of it. I meant singing. For god's sake, what were you thinking?"

Gage shook himself from his reverie, observing the smiling face of his partner. He gratefully noticed that she'd snapped him out of it just before the boss showed up, he gave her a half-smile, apologizing silently and hoping she understood before turning to his superior, "What do you think RJ, she's quick on her feet huh?"

RJ cleared his throat. He'd seen the glaze fall over Gage's eyes, and was pretty sure that half, if not all, of the men in the room had pictured the same thing her male partner had, but he'd snapped out of it pretty quick, RJ looked at his smug new Ranger, admiring her a lot more because she'd seen through his cheap attempt at saving her from a potentially embarrassing assignment, "Ranger Cooke. Gage is right, you think on your feet. I have to admit that I was reluctant to let you infiltrate at La Iglesia, but if you are okay with it, I agree, it is the best place to kick-start the investigation. Do you want surveillance tonight?"

Gage managed to answer, figuring that he shouldn't let his new partner completely outshine him, "No, I don't think so. Tonight is a social call, more of a trial by new identity. We'll stumble in around 11:20 and leave after she sees me eying a couple of the girls. Or something like that. We won't cause a big scene, maybe just enough of one to sink our images into memory. If we're lucky, they're hiring a singer or a body guard."

RJ nodded decisively, impressed with the team he'd chosen. He'd been a little skeptical about the woman, but they already seemed to be getting along great. It might be worth it to speed up the initial stages of the investigation, "Well, if you guys are so ready to get rolling, here are the keys to your new apartment. You can move in today."

Sydney choked on her coffee, "Today? What about paperwork and everything else we have to do?"

RJ shrugged, "We need to get El Leon, as fast as possible. We need you two to focus on being Maria and Alex. So, as of right now, you're excused of all duties that don't directly pertain to the case. I'll come by your apartment tomorrow with the new plan. Have fun tonight."

As he walked past he put a hand on Gage's shoulder, a friendly gesture that had Gage staring after his superior. If he wasn't so surprised he'd have thought that that touch meant more than just "good luck". In fact, as Sydney asked him whose car they should take, he imagined that RJ was warning him to keep his new partner safe. That was odd.

"My car's older, which might go with the cover a little better until we get assigned transportation. If we drive something ritzy they might think that we're getting money from a not-so-legal source, and are stomping on their territory." Sydney looked at Gage, his eyes were distant again, his face contemplative, "Earth to Gage, you know, when you're trying to think you look constipated."

Gage came back to earth grinning, "No I don't, I look sexy. Contemplative. Like that big thinking statue, the one of the naked guy."

Sydney snorted, he might have the muscles of the Thinking Man, but… no. That was just mean, "Whatever. Your car or mine?"

"Tell you what, I'll take mine back to the apartment and start packing some of my things, you can go home and pack and come pick me up. I'm apartment 912 in The Starlite building."

Sydney drew her eyebrows together, "That highrise on the East side of town? How do you manage a ritzy place like that on your salary?"

Gage shrugged, leading his partner out of the room and down to the garage, "I can't. But an Aunt that I never knew I had passed away two years ago and left my sister and I with a hefty inheritance. I blew mine on all the finer things in life – housing, transportation, and a few expensive chunks of furniture."

"Ah."

Gage escorted her to her car without thinking, taking her keys from her hand and opening the door to the driver's side for her. He reached out for her hand and pulled her hard against him. Suddenly he froze.

Sydney was staring, open-mouthed, at her partner, her delicate eyebrows lifted over dark eyes. When he simply stared down at her, as stunned as she was, she bit her bottom lip to keep from laughing, "Hi. Playboy habits die hard, don't you think?"

Gage quickly released her, pushing his partner away from him so quick that she would have fallen if there hadn't been a car behind her. He ran a nervous hand through his hair, thoroughly embarrassed, and started apologizing, "Oh gosh, Syd. I'm so sorry…I didn't mean to, I guess I just. Oh geez!" He stopped, hearing her choking and thinking that he'd really done it, he'd made his new partner cry, "Oh God! Oh no, honey, please, don't cry…"

Sydney was doubled over, choking back her laughter as her partner stumbled over himself to explain what he'd just done. When he started begging her not to cry she almost fell to the floor. Unable to hold back her mirth any longer she let forth a bubble of giggles. Looking into his bewildered and…terrified?...face, she actually did start crying. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she continued laughing, and Gage finally looked at her, bewildered.

"Sydney? Cooke! What the hell…are you laughing at me?"

Unable to speak she simply nodded her head, clutching her sides and sliding to a seat. Try as she might she couldn't stop laughing, "You…you…you really must…hahaha…have a routine…to…to have…hahahahaha…."

Gage couldn't help it. The sight of his new partner laughing her butt off at his expense had him chuckling too, "I'm sorry. I really am…."

Pretty soon they were both sitting on the stained concrete floor, leaning against her car, their faces bright red and their sides hurting. Their laughter subsided and Gage tried once again to apologize, "God Syd. I'm really sorry. I never realized how much of a routine I have around women…can you ever forgive me?"

Sydney shook her head, wiping her face off with her sleeves, "No. No, Gage, I honestly don't think I can forgive you. It's going to take years of telling this story to every Ranger who enters the room to forgive you."

She started laughing again, and soon Gage joined in, punching her lightly on the shoulder. Once they calmed down again he stood up, offering his partner his hand, "Let's get going, we've probably wasted a lot of time already."

Sydney raised an eyebrow, a new habit that was developing quickly when it came to her new partner, "Can I trust your hand?"

Gage leaned down and grabbed her arm, hauling her to her feet, "Geez! Yes, you can trust my hand. Except for tonight, and maybe when we're moving our stuff into the new apartment. Then my hand has the liberty of belonging to your boyfriend."

Sydney groaned as she got in her car, laying her hand flat in the air like she was waiting for something, "Oh joy. My life just keeps getting better and better. Everyone thinks I just volunteered to be a stripper and you get to be the boyfriend who lets me dance on poles."

Gage stared at her, her hand laid out in waiting, so she did know what he'd been thinking about, damn.

Sydney waved her hand, "Gage, I need my keys or you're never going to get picked up."

Gage looked down at his hand and realized that he still held her keys, "Well, at least you can't say I'm not chivalrous."

He handed the keys to her and they agreed to meet at his apartment at one. Sydney backed out of her parking space, driving off and leaving Gage standing there with a smile on his face. Yeah, he thought, this was going to be one hell of a partnership.


	3. Chapter 3: Moving In

**The Rangers – **a series based upon WTR, with the focus on the two rangers who joined the force in the seventh season, Ranger Cooke and Ranger Gage. The characters are borrowed directly from the TV series, and some plot elements relate to certain episodes, but the main ideas are original to the author. I do not claim the characters.

**Book 1: El Leon – **What happened before they joined Walker's team?

**Chapter 3: Moving In**

Sydney's eyes were wide as the elevator doors chimed open. The wallpaper in the entryway was textured, and she was pretty sure that it was adorned with original, one-of-a-kind Warhol prints. The carpets were matched with travertine tiles and everything was accented with glittering chrome. It was a really ritzy place, when she'd entered the door the doorman had offered to take her coat, and directed her to a selection of cookies and coffee that was available, he said, for the women and men waiting in the lobby for their friends. Sydney declined, saying that she would just go up.

Now, standing outside the door to Gage's apartment, she wasn't so sure about herself. This was so far from her small, two bedroom house in the lower-income suburbs outside of town. It was so far from the broken down house she'd grown up in. Though she'd met Gage years ago, and, she silently acknowledged, had quickly formed a friendship with him that was the strongest one she'd ever had, she had never really known how utterly different they were until she was knocking on the door to an apartment that probably had a view of all of Dallas.

Gage opened the door; he'd taken a shower and was standing in front of her in nothing but a pair of sweats that hung low enough on his waist to let Sydney know that he was not wearing a pair of boxers under the sweats. He stood there, a toothbrush hanging out of his mouth, staring at his partner in awe.

As Sydney admired the hard muscles of Gage's chest and stomach, she kept her eyes on his face and impassive, enjoying her ability to look someone straight in the eye and drink in the whole picture. Gage, in turn, was admiring the smart little outfit his partner seemed to have just tossed on. She was wearing a tight-tight pair of jeans, with a vertical rip on the left thigh, and a shirt that was so loose it belonged in the eighties. It hung over her breasts and dropped to just below her belly button, allowing an inch or two of flesh to be revealed under the cotton material. It looked like a modified man's tee with its cut off midsection and the collar stretched wide enough for it to slide off of one shoulder, the sleeves were long enough to cover her biceps. The difference between the clothing and her personality was almost as sexy as the sight of her bare shoulder…a shoulder he'd seen probably a thousand times. Huh.

Noticing the questioning look in Sydney's eyes, Gage realized that he'd stood in his door a little longer than he should have. He started to speak, but remembered the toothbrush and simply jerked his head in the direction of his apartment; he led her into the living room and escaped to his bathroom, mentally smacking himself when he saw the toothpaste foam around his lips. He quickly finished brushing his teeth then went into his bedroom to change into Alexander.

Sydney carefully shut the door to the apartment behind her and looked around. The living room was open to the kitchen, separated only by a breakfast bar that had a couple of Styrofoam containers lying atop it. The fridge was plastered with take-out menus and a couple of photos of her partner. In one of them he was riding a horse, in another he was fishing. Seeing the chrome and fine finishes, the leather couch and 60 inch TV, Sydney wondered at the contrast.

She was just admiring a photo of a younger Gage, when he walked out of his bedroom and approached her quietly. In the picture he was wearing a baseball cap and had a shadow across one eye, it was a bruise, but she wouldn't know that. He looked happy standing in the center of the diamond with some random guys slapping him on the back. He must have been about 16, but the eyes were the same gray-blue, smiling out at her from the photo.

"Hey, I'm ready."

Sydney turned, shocked to see the loose jeans and goofy Hawaiian shirt on her partner. He was carrying a gym bag, and trailing a suitcase, "Is that all, anything I can carry?"

Gage looked down at his things, then thought about it, "There's a box in the back of my closet, it just has old sports equipment in it, but it might look more like we're moving in if we bring it."

Sydney took her cue and went to his room, noticing the unmade bed. It looked as though there had been a wrestling match that took place on that king-sized mattress and she bit her lip as she realized the reason for the circles under Gage's eyes. She found the box in his closet and used her legs to lift it, it wasn't too heavy, but it was awkward to handle because of its size. She briefly speculated about the woman who had kept Gage up on those silk sheets as she hauled the box into the living room.

Gage held the door open for Sydney, his mouth dropping open when she passed him and he spotted another tear in her pants. A horizontal one that slashed right below her delicious behind, allowing him an excruciatingly sweet view of her smooth skin. He lost himself in a quick fantasy of how that skin would feel beneath his hand and how tight it would be for his hand to slide underneath the taut material of her jeans, soon enough they were standing in front of her car. Sydney lifted her eyes to Gage's and smiled crookedly, "Uh…so, I know I told you to keep your hands to yourself…but do you think you could reach into my left pocket and get the keys?"

Gage smiled, imagining the look on her face if she had known what he'd just been thinking about. He dropped his gym bag and reached under the box, feeling around for the opening to her pocket. Finding it he managed to squeeze two fingers into the tight space and dig out a set of keys. He quickly opened the front door and popped the trunk, helping Sydney to slide the box into the space next to a box or two of her own. He also noticed the bright pink suitcases in the backseat and smiled, "So, you ready to go Maria?"

Sydney adopted a slight Texas accent, mixed with a tint of Valley girl, Gage noticed for the first time that she was chewing gum, "Oh yeah, I'm ready to get home witchu Alex…"

Gage laughed, slamming shut the trunk and heading to the driver's seat. Sydney also headed that way and they collided trying to slide in. He glared at her, "Whatcha doing Maria?"

Sydney glared right back, narrowing her almond eyes and curling her lip, "You tink I gonna let you drive my new car? No way, I seen you drive!"

Gage pushed her back, deciding that Alex was not the most doting male, "Get away. I'm the man here, you get in the passenger seat and shut up."

Sydney pushed him back, "I seen you drive and you ain't driving my new car. No matter how much I love you fool."

Gage grabbed his partner's wrist, completely Alex now, "Get in the passenger's seat Bitch, or I'll do to you what Antonio did to Carroll."

Sydney ripped her hand out of his grasp and stalked over to the passenger side, opening and slamming her door with force, "Fool. I could get another one of you any day..."

Gage got into the car, smiling. Not five minutes and they'd managed to make themselves into a couple. He started the engine and backed out, squealing the tires just so he could see real anger flash in Sydney's eyes as he tore out of the parking garage. Once they were on the highway he looked over at her, she was rubbing the wrist he grabbed and staring out the passenger window, remorse filled him quickly.

Sydney felt the change in the car. It went from cold to caring in less than a second, she looked over at her partner seeing his concern, and she answered his unasked question, "No. You didn't hurt me. Well, not enough to make me get you back."

He glanced at her as she smiled, reassuringly, and regretted the role of Alexander, "I can change him. He can be doting and loving…" his eyes turned a little smoldering as he stopped at a light, "and sensual."

Sydney rolled her eyes, "Nope, I think Maria is into hot-shot idiots who took 'emotional abuse 101' in their first and only semester at college."

Gage frowned, "Maria is, but you aren't…are you?" His mind raced ahead at the thought that this intelligent human being sitting beside him could be fool enough to fall for tools.

Sydney shook her head, "Gage, I haven't had enough time to have even a regular boyfriend, let alone one who is abusive and demanding. I have too many goals, too much work to do. And I just can't manage to get my playgirl spirit to emerge as much as I try to unleash it."

Gage laughed, "I can help you with that…"

"No."

The apartment was in a building more like the ones Sydney was used to. Unfortunately, this one had hallways that smelled of urine. They had already talked to the Super and were moving their stuff into the small one-bed apartment when a truck with a moving trailer pulled up. Two men got out of the truck and walked straight over to Gage, shaking his hand. Sydney recognized them as some of the Rangers who'd been at the briefing that morning, and realized that they had the furniture for the apartment. She ran out and threw open the trailer doors, taking in the sight of a double mattress with an inward groan, she also noted an ugly orange recliner and a bookshelf, she figured it could be filled with booze in case they decided to entertain.

"Alex! Dem fools forgot the damn TV, how'm I supposed to enjoy myself if we can't get any Cinemax!"

Gage heard the words come out of her mouth, but briefly forgot who he was talking to. He furrowed his brow, Sydney didn't talk that way, and she certainly wasn't the type to watch cinema, what the hell was wrong with her, but, at a smack on the arm from one of the other Rangers, he snapped back to reality…well, false reality, "Damn it Gary!" He shoved the Ranger to his right, "I told you to grab that set. Where'd you leave it?"

Ranger Archer, AKA Gary, punched Gage in the arm, scowling at him even though he was secretly very impressed at the roles his two colleagues had adapted, "Dunno. I thought I put it in there. We'll bring it by tomorrow afternoon, but only if you'll have some brewskys in it for us."

Sydney grabbed her pink suitcases and shoved the bigger one at the other Ranger, "Get dat." She led the way into the apartment, careful to breathe in before she entered the building and exhale only once she was in her apartment. It still stunk of piss, but she figured she could live with it. Maybe get some scented candles…she debated that, was Maria the type of woman who got candles? No. Damn.

As promised, Gage did not keep his hands fully to himself while they moved in. He made his partner get the big box of sports stuff out of the car by herself, and took advantage of her bending over to smack her ass right above the tear in her jeans. He'd seen some men gather on the other side of the street and figured he should make a show out of it, "Hurry up, I got somethin' better to do with ya once we've finished."

Sydney rounded on him, all fire, and spat out her gum, the pink wad smacked his cheek and dropped to the cement, "You got sommat better to do? How about feed me, you gonna run me ragged if I don't get some food soon," she noticed the audience and bent back over, "But, until you feed me you can enjoy the view."

Once Gage and Sydney were settled into their apartment the other Rangers left them, telling them that they'd bring a TV and some other equipment to the place the next day, after they met with RJ. Sydney sank into the recliner, glad to be off of her feet and out of her role. Gage fetched a glass from the previously stocked cabinets and poured himself some milk before settling onto the mismatched loveseat that accompanied the recliner. They sat there, Gage slurping his milk, staring at the blank wall where their highly anticipated television would soon reside.

Sydney spoke first, "I owe you big time."

Gage shot a sideways glance at his partner, she was fully reclined in the chair, her eyes closed and her muscles relaxed, chances were she wasn't going to attack him for that slap right now, "Uh…you can't punish me for what Alex does. That wouldn't be fair."

Sydney laughed, "I'll get you for that tomorrow at the gym. I owe you for not prancing around like a peacock after you beat me this morning. I know that more than one of the guys would have gladly let you boast to them. It shows me that you respect me, and that we've got potential as partners."

Gage almost sprayed his milk across the room, was Sydney Cooke being humble? He managed to choke down the milk and shoot out a witty comment, "Yeah, well… it's not that great an accomplishment," he paused a moment, waiting for the sound of the recliner rocking back into the sitting position, when Sydney was about to jump up he continued, "I mean, really, we've fought dozens of times over the years. Just because I got a lucky grab on your ankles, well…let's just say 'monkey arms' isn't exactly something I want to boast about."

Sydney smiled, relaxing the muscles that were so eager for a fight. Checking her watch she noticed that it was already 5:30 and she hadn't eaten since breakfast, "Hey Gage."

His eyes were shut, the empty glass of milk held lightly in one hand, he barely heard his partner and he answered sleepily, "Hmmm…"

Sydney laughed, figuring that she'd let him sleep. He deserved that, then he could do the dishes and she could nap. Happy with the deal she'd just made with an unconscious Gage, Sydney went to check out the kitchen situation.

Gage awoke to the sound of Shania, singing at the top of her lungs, "Whose bed have your boots been under?" and the smell of something spicy that had his stomach rumbling. He yawned and rolled his neck, wondering why it was aching, he'd specifically bought the bed so he wouldn't wake up with aches. Opening his eyes he realized he wasn't in his bed, his six-foot frame was curled awkwardly on an ugly brown loveseat. He looked around, a little fuzzy, and realized that there were two women singing.

Sitting up he looked at the small kitchen and dropped his jaw. Sydney Cooke, Ranger Sydney Cooke, was swaying her hips to the sounds of a country legend, singing along with her at the top of her lungs. Not only was she singing, but her hands were busy rolling tamales. Gage stilled himself, transfixed by the sight of her small hands carefully rolling the meat and dough into corn husks, which she then placed in a boiling pot that seemed to be the source of the intoxicatingly spicy scent. When she had finished all the tamales she placed a lid on top of the pot, dropped the heat a bit, and turned to toss a salad that Gage hadn't noticed.

"This time may feel like thunder, Baby! Who did you run…Ack!"

Sydney stopped mid-song, the tongs in her hand shoved partway into the deep green of spinach salad. Her eyes connected with Gage's and she reached to flip off the music, "Oh, goodness Gage, you scared me. Did I wake you?"

Gage was still staring open mouthed at her when his stomach growled loud enough for her to hear, distracted, he stood up and asked the only thing that came to mind, "You cook?"

Sydney shook her head, leave it to Francis Gage to change any topic of conversation to food, "Off and on. I've got some tamales already done, you want?"

Gage nodded, and his stomach growled again. Before he could answer she cut him off, "Of course you want. Nobody can resist my tamales, here," she handed him the tongs, "you finish tossing the salad and I'll reheat the ones that are done. I decided to outdo myself so that we'd have leftovers. If you like we can take them to the office tomorrow and sell them for a second source of income."

Gage was staring at the tongs in his hand, he opened them wide and dug into the salad with the metal prongs, he lifted the hunk of now-squished spinach high out of the bowl and dropped it back in. Sydney flinched just as Gage looked up to find her staring, awestruck, at him, "What?"

"You just ruined perfectly good spinach. Do you know how expensive spinach is?"

Gage looked at her, bewildered, as he dug the tongs into the salad once again, "What do you mean? You told me to toss the salad, so I'm tossing."

Sydney bit her lip, "Gage, put down the tongs. I will not have my $7.00/lb organic spinach ruined by an incompetent suis chef!"

Gage dropped the lettuce back in the bowl, and dug the tongs once more into the spinach; now enjoying the cringe that his actions brought to his partners face, "You paid $7.00 for a pound of leaves? Don't you think that's overdoing it a bit?"

Sydney lunged across the kitchen and grabbed the tongs from him, wrestling briefly for full control before bumping him away from her beloved salad with her hip, "No. I don't think it's overdoing it. Overdoing it would be to pay $9.00. Besides, they were beautiful, fresh, and the man who was selling them looked like he could use the $7.00. And what do you do after I spend so much time making the dressing and the tamales, you dig the tongs into my 'leaves' and just proceed to treat them as though they will taste just as good mashed together as they would in perfectly whole form! Have you no respect for food?"

Gage watched her hands carefully lifting the spinach and dropping it back into the bowl as if each leaf were precious. As she did this she turned the bowl with her other hand, making the whole act of tossing a salad look like a ballet, "I…I like food…how do you do that?"

Sydney continued babying her salad, "Do what?"

"Toss the salad like that? How do you do it?"

Sydney stopped and dropped her head a little, as though she were peering over an imaginary pair of glasses at him, "You want to learn?"

Gage shrugged, he was hungry, and if he learned how to toss a salad she would probably reheat some tamales for him, "Yeah. I want to learn."

Sydney handed him the tongs, standing close beside him as he took her spot by the salad, "Hold the bowl in your right hand, it's easier to maintain control when you spin the bowl this way. Good," she murmured as he practiced a turn, "now, take the tongs, do not dig them into the bowl, but follow the shape of it, kind of scooping the spinach up. No," she put her hand on his arm, "don't squeeze the lettuce with the tongs, they'll pick up what they need to. There. Turn and drop, scoop and turn and drop."

She left his side, confident that he wouldn't ruin anymore of her spinach, and proceeded to reheat some tamales, checking on the ones on the stove before she removed two plates from the cabinet, "Do you know how to cook anything?"

Gage shrugged, "I have a toaster."

Sydney shook her head, amazed, "I guess that's what happens when you lead a bachelor lifestyle."

Gage smiled, still tossing the salad as she passed behind him with two plates, "Yeah. It discourages women from spending the night."

Sydney was already settled into one of the two chairs they'd set up with a card table, "Gage? You wanna give the salad a rest and eat now?"

Gage and the salad were at the table in seconds, and his first bite of heaven was in his mouth before Sydney had dished up her salad, "Mmmm…ohb'god! Youbgonnacooklikedisalldatime… mmmmm…"

Sydney took a small forkful of her own tamale, allowing the blandness of the corn dough to soothe the sharp bite of the spices. She'd made pork tamales, favoring the tenderness of the meat over other types, and the combination of flavors melted over her tongue. After her first bite though, she finished her meal almost as quickly as Gage, neither of them talking much as they feasted.

At the end of the meal, Gage begrudgingly went to work cleaning up the dishes while Sydney went to the bedroom to take a nap, "Wake me up around nine, I want to look over Ramon's files again before we hit the club."

As she entered the bedroom she remembered his muffled question from the start of the meal, "And no. I am not going to cook like this every day. It's something I do to jump-start an investigation, kind of like a last meal sort of mentality."

Gage thought about this as he washed suds off of their plates. Last meal, that didn't sound too optimistic to him, but whatever. He also had a ritual, which, he supposed, would have to be skipped since he couldn't very well get wasted at the club tonight. Eh…the Advil, shots, and dreams from last night were kind of similar to a raging party at the Longhorn. After he finished the dishes, lamenting at the absence of a dishwasher, Gage sank into the couch to take another little siesta himself.


	4. Chapter 4: Infiltration

**The Rangers – **a series based upon WTR, with the focus on the two rangers who joined the force in the seventh season, Ranger Cooke and Ranger Gage. The characters are borrowed directly from the TV series, and some plot elements relate to certain episodes, but the main ideas are original to the author. I do not claim the characters.

**Book 1: El Leon – **What happened before they joined Walker's team?

**Chapter 4: Infiltration**

Gage woke up from his nap to total darkness. He rolled off the couch and decided that he probably needed to get to bed. Heading in that direction he stubbed his toe on a recliner, _do I have a recliner?,_ and continued on to the bedroom. He thought it was a little odd that his bedroom wasn't at the end of a hallway like it usually was, and that the door was shut, but he passed it off as exhaustion and stumbled sleepily into the room.

Funny, his bed looked smaller too. And there was a woman, with dark brown hair splayed across the pillow, lying on the inside half of the mattress. Gage wasn't sure when he had pushed the bed up against the wall, but it sure as hell had been a good idea. He noticed the woman's bare shoulders and realized that he should wake her before the morning came…but, then again, what could it hurt to wake up with a woman in his arms?

Sydney had had a lot of trouble falling asleep, partly because her partner was banging pots and pans around in the kitchen, but mostly because she was very particular about sleeping in her own bed. This double bed was nothing like hers, it had springs and smelled weird and it felt…well, lumpy. But eventually she willed herself to take a small siesta.

Happily lost in her dreams, she barely acknowledged that the bed shifted beside her, and she was oblivious to the presence of a man settling in beside her. But, halfway through a particularly good dream about a handsome man with gray-blue eyes joining her in bed, murmuring sweet things in her ear, she felt a muscled arm wrap itself around her. Struggling between reality and the fog of sleep, Sydney opened her eyes to find herself staring at a wall. _Must have just been a really good dream…_ she thought, but as she closed her eyes and rolled over she actually felt the arm on top of her.

Gage had just curled his arm around the sleeping woman when his mind snapped into the present. Sydney rolled over beneath the weight of his arm, her eyes half-open, and he hastily removed it. Shifting his weight in the bed he saw her eyes fluttering open and opted to shake her fully awake, "Sydney, earth to Cooke, you ready to wake up?"

Sydney opened her eyes to see Gage bent over her, shaking her none-too-gently, she did a lazy cat yawn that had her body stretching sensuously beneath the sheets, "Is it nine?"

Gage mentally punched himself, shit! He stole a quick look at his watch and was relieved to see that it was 9:15, "Yeah, a little after. You wanted to read up on Ramon before we left."

Sydney nodded, suddenly aware that she was wearing only her bra and panties, having discarded the uncomfortable undercover clothing as soon as she entered the bedroom. Staying low she smiled at Gage, "Yeah, you wanna go find the files, they should be in the kitchen. I'll join you in a minute."

Gage shrugged, "No, I think that I left the briefcase in here. Let me turn on a light."

Sydney's arm shot out of the blankets, snagging his arm as he started to get up off the bed, "No!"

Gage looked back at his partner, startled, all he could see was the outline of her in the moonlight, clueless he stood up, pulling his wrist from her vice-like grip before heading to the light, "Oh, it'll only be a second. Geez, you're acting so weird."

Sydney's voice was icy, "Francis Gage, if you touch that light switch I swear to God I will kick your ass."

Gage shrugged and flipped on the lights, "Yeah, like I haven't heard that threat before. What has gotten into…" as the fluorescent light flooded the room, Gage stumbled over a pair of jeans. Looking down he saw a distinct rip just below the back pocket and actually felt himself flush before he hurried out the door, calling back to his partner as he ran, "Actually, you're right, I think the files are in the kitchen. Bye!"

Sydney debated staying in the tiny bedroom until she died, but the debate was quickly ended due to her sense of pride and duty. She shrugged into some workout sweats before heading into the kitchen with the briefcase. Gage was sitting at the tiny card table, chugging from a jug of OJ as though he wished it were something harder. Sydney brushed a hand through her tangled hair and sat across from him, dropping the files on top of the vinyl table with aplomb.

When he didn't look at her immediately she began to talk, "From my understanding Ramon is something like a right-hand-man to El Leon, although we already know that Leon is more of a loner than most other criminals in his league. The gentlemen's club had a sign up, advertising for a singer, when I was out shopping for spinach, so I think tonight would be a good time to ask for an audition. I figure I can mention it briefly to a waitress or bartender while you scope out the place. Nothing serious, just take a look around and…"

Gage interrupted, the OJ jug empty in his hand, "Do you always sleep like that?"

"Wha…no. I was tired, and the clothes were uncomfortable. Can we get back to the matter at hand?"

Gage shrugged, "What are you wearing tonight?"

Sydney sighed, a sigh that clearly communicated her exasperation with her colleague, "If you must know, I have a little black dress that I used during a shorter investigation when I had to work in an upscale part of town. I think that I can modify it a little to make it look like something Maria would wear, without going too trashy. Now, can we finish up, I really need to shower before we go."

Gage tried to take another swig from the jug before he realized that he'd already drank it all, he finally lifted his eyes to the calm, questioning ones of his partner, "Yeah. Sorry. I figure that I'll just take a look around the bar area, maybe hit up a couple of the bouncers, get a feel for the situation with them. I'll order a beer when I'm satisfied with the preliminary scout and you can come bite my head off for looking at another woman. You'll drag me out and we'll be back in bed before one."

Sydney choked, "Excuse me?"

Gage looked at her, it was never this weird working with men, "What? Do you need me to goover it again?" He paused, deciding he could use the boost in mood that teasing her would bring, "Did you stop listening while you fantasized about my baby blues and great smile?"

Sydney snorted, that was too close to the truth an hour ago, "No. We're not going to be back in bed together. I'll let you have the bed, because I've seen you scrunched up on the couch and it didn't look comfortable. I'll take a pillow and a blanket and sleep in the living room. At least there I know you won't dream that you're in your own personal playboy mansion and sleep walk into a scene with me."

Gage shrugged and stood up, "Eh. You've never seen the playboy mansion; they even do it on the couches there."

Sydney snapped the file shut, carefully tucking it into the briefcase and storing that in a hidden compartment underneath the kitchen sink, "Yeah. Right. I'm gonna go shower."

"Don't take too long, I need a shower too."

Sydney slipped into the bathroom with her fluffy towel and shampoo, murmuring, "Yeah, a cold one."

By the time Gage was out of the shower, Sydney had her hair and makeup done. She was slipping into a tight little black dress, pulling the straps up over her shoulders when he entered the bedroom. Without looking at her he snagged a pair of boxers from his suitcase and wiggled into the skin-tight Haynes before dropping the towel. Sydney turned her back to him and finished tucking the hem of the dress up a little higher on her thighs. She heard the zipper on his pants and joined her partner at the closet, searching for a pair of strappy black shoes to wear. When she bent over to snag them from behind the now annoying box of useless sports crap, Gage tugged on the same ugly Hawaiian shirt that he'd worn earlier that day.

Sydney looked at him and turned him to face a mirror, standing next to him as she slipped her nice heels on, "Gage, see the beautiful woman wearing a really tight, really uncomfortable dress that accents her best features? The woman whose hair took her forty minutes to successfully woo into such an eloquent, yet over-stated and sexy hairstyle?"

Gage nodded.

"Good. Now do you see the goofball standing next to her in a pair of slacks with a Hawaiian shirt that has beer bottles on it?"

Gage nodded again, a smile creeping across his lips.

Sydney continued, turning to the goofball she'd just mentioned, "Go change."

Gage opened his mouth to argue, thought better of the argument and put on his puppy-dog face, "I don't want to choose another shirt. I like what I'm wearing. If _you_ don't like what I'm wearing now, pick something else out."

Checking her watch Sydney noted that it was already 11:00 and she really didn't want to be at the club too late, biting back her sarcastic response, she unceremoniously plopped open her partner's suitcase and picked out the best of his shirt options, which, she noted with slight irritation, were all Hawaiian shirts.

Standing, she caught him staring once again and tossed the black shirt at his face, "Put this on. Did you purposely pack only Hawaiian shirts?"

Gage shrugged out of his old one, the white undershirt beneath it sliding up over his six-pack as he did so, he quickly disposed of it in a hamper and dragged the new shirt on, "Yeah. I figured it was a style statement that Alex could make."

Sydney rolled her eyes, turning to leave the bedroom, "Whatever, I can't believe Maria lets him wear those shirts."

Gage came up right behind her, inhaling the delicate scent of either hair-spray or perfume and whispered, "Truthfully, I can't afford ritzy clothing for my undercover work, and one time they had this sale on Hawaiian T-shirts at the flea market, and I couldn't help myself. I bought one of each!"

Sydney laughed, the rich sound of it filling the room as she jingled the keys to the apartment, "Come on. We're going to be late. Maybe we'll hit up a mall near one of El Leon's other places and buy you some real clothes sometime."

Ramon was standing by the stage when he saw them walk in. Two beautiful people who he was sure he would have recognized had they been in before. He noted how the woman giggled at what the man said, and that she was chewing on a piece of gum the size of Texas. The dress she was wearing…well, Ramon thought, he might have to ask her where she got it so he could get a few for the girls backstage. The man was wearing a black Hawaiian shirt with gray writing up one side, probably Chinese. His blue eyes were smiling even as they searched the room. Ramon didn't have time to wonder at the wandering eyes as a big man came up behind him, whispering inconspicuously, "They got him. He's in the back Mr. Ramon."

Ramon nodded, cracking his knuckles. While not a formidable man in size, the Mexican man had dark, oily hair that was clean-cut and styled, and black eyes that turned deadly or sensual at the slightest provocation, for some reason people found that intimidating. He scanned the crowd, seeing the taut little woman who had entered moments before, but missing the man she entered with. He waved a hand in her direction, silently directing his henchman to watch her while he dealt with the problem out back.

Sydney had spotted Ramon, and she felt the instant rush of adrenaline at having identified her target. Even though she knew that this was a lengthy undercover assignment, she let herself relish in the thrill while she outwardly 'admired' the women entertainers who were currently finishing up a Burlesque act on stage. She watched out of the corner of her eye as Ramon motioned in her direction before slipping through a door to the back. A man who had to have been at least seven feet tall and three-hundred pounds moved slowly towards her. _Well, _Sydney thought,_ that was quick._

The henchman knew better than to talk to the beautiful little woman, so he stopped halfway between her and the door, carefully watching her while he scanned the room for trouble. To his surprise, and slight pleasure, the little lady came sidling up right beside him and looked up with her big-doe eyes, biting her lower lip in the most innocent, and sexy, way possible.

He cleared his throat. Being a big man, he didn't often get a chance to talk to women, and when he did…well, it was generally the women Ramon was finished with or who had crossed him. But the delicate touch of her hand on his bicep was a startling difference from the struggling punches and biting nails he was used to, and he couldn't help but talk to her, "Can I help you little lady?"

Sydney decided that even a woman like Maria would play the cow-eyes card with this man and she smiled brilliantly when he acknowledged her, "I'm so sorry, but my name is Maria Torres and I came here tonight because I saw a posting for a job outside, earlier today. Do you by chance know if the position has been filled?"

Ramon walked back through the door, carefully checking his hands for blood, and saw his henchman talking animatedly with the woman in the black dress. Stalking across the room he quickly halted the conversation, "Chavez, get your butt back to your station."

The henchman gave Sydney an apologetic smile before hustling back to the door, Sydney kept the pleasant smile on her face as Ramon turned his deadly-cold eyes on her. The eyes turned softer almost instantly, and her hand was caught up in the manicured hand of her first target, "Good evening, my name is Ramon and I'm the manager here at La Iglesia. I apologize if Chavez was bothering you; he's all bulk and no brains."

Sydney giggled, "But you're not are you…may I call you Ramon?" She purposely trilled her 'r', making sure he knew that she could speak Spanish just as well as he could.

Gage finished scoping out the nightclub and settled down into his seat to order a beer. He smiled at the lady who handed him his longneck and scanned the room for his partner. Drawing a long swig of the amber liquid, he spotted her across the way, and was about to get up when he noticed who Sydney was talking to. Talking to? Gage started coughing as the beer went down the wrong chute, he knew his partner was small, but standing next to, and flirting with?, a giant, bear of a man who looked to be made of solid muscle, made her appear even tinier. In fact, Gage had to stop himself from laughing at the sight they made: a big, ripped bouncer smiling down on a woman who didn't weigh more than a third of him, her tiny hand resting in a friendly gesture on his arm as she quickly built up a rapport. Seeing how quickly she wrapped the bouncer around her finger made Gage realize just exactly how glad he was to have agreed to have Sydney as his partner, he didn't think any man in the apartment could do in ten years, what she'd just done in less than a minute.

Just as Gage settled back into his seat he saw another man approach, a man he knew all too well from the photographs stashed beneath the kitchen sink. Gage watched tight-lipped as Ramon rebuked his bouncer and then turned his eyes onto Sydney. She handled him smoothly though, and soon enough was gesturing at Gage from across the way, undoubtedly mentioning his usefulness as a bouncer.

Sydney was, in fact, edging her way out of a sticky situation. Once Ramon's eyes had changed from ice to fire, she'd known exactly what he wanted. And, as he offered her a very different type of job than the one she wanted, she felt it was time to back-peddle a little.

"Oh, Senor Ramon, I would love to be a dancer, but you see…my boyfriend. He's so jealous sometimes. He said I couldn't take the job, less it was just singing, or waitressing. I really need a job senor," Sydney added, seeing Ramon shut her off at the thought of a boyfriend, "and my singing is almost as sexy as dancing…"

Ramon's mind had switched off of the woman in front of him when she'd gestured to the man she had entered with, a man who was currently enjoying a longneck at the bar, his eyes straying to the women on the stage. Satisfied that the man was no immediate threat to his club or his women, he switched back to the pretty lady standing in front of him, "Now darlin', what are you doing with a man who won't even let you dance in front of other men? It seems to me he doesn't appreciate your talents."

Sydney's eyes followed Ramon's to the women who were swinging around poles in the center of a catwalk-like stage. Carefully, she hid her disgust, "I know, he don't respect my talent. But, I love him."

Gage decided that it was time to go, he couldn't just sit there and wait while his woman…well, Alex's woman, talked to another man, a man who was probably very attractive…who he should probably be jealous of. Getting up he flipped a twenty onto the bar and stalked around the room to where Sydney and Ramon were talking. Ramon had just laid a hand on Sydney's shoulder when Gage showed up behind her.

"Hey! What you doing touching my woman?"

Ramon's eyes froze again, pools of dark, cold river water rushing under the ice, "You don't deserve a woman so beautiful Gringo. But she says she loves you, so I have to accept that I must win her heart. Maria," Ramon looked straight at Gage as he lifted Sydney's fingers to his lips, "I'll see you tomorrow night at six for your first shift."

Sydney smiled sweetly at Ramon, thanked him, and turned to leave, feeling Gage's hand rest on the back of her neck, directing her toward the door like a man steering a bicycle, "Why can't chu be like that? Kiss me like that and… appreciate me? You gotta be so manly and dumb."

Gage clenched his jaw, walking past the two bouncers at the front as the cool night air blew reason into his face, "I ain't gotta be like that," he leaned in, changing back into Gage as he whispered in her ear, "cause you love me."

Sydney snorted. She allowed him to steer her into their car for pretences, but once they were in she shook his hand off her, relaxing into the seat, "So…I got a job."

Gage smiled, "I can't wait to see you sing."

Sydney looked slyly at him as he shifted into drive, "Well, actually, you can - and will."

Gage frowned, "What do you mean? You said you got a job, didn't you?"

Sydney smiled, closing her eyes, "Yeah, I'm a waitress."

It didn't occur to either of them until they reached their apartment that their plan had worked, they were in.


	5. Chapter 5: House Call UPDATED

_**Hey all, just finished chapter five. I would really appreciate critiques and comments on this chapter (it's really short, sorry) as well as Chapter four. Things are getting a little intense in the case and I want to see how you like it and if it's clear or if it's all muddled. Thanks, in advance, for your reviews!**_

**The Rangers – **a series based upon WTR, with the focus on the two rangers who joined the force in the seventh season, Ranger Cooke and Ranger Gage. The characters are borrowed directly from the TV series, and some plot elements relate to certain episodes, but the main ideas are original to the author. I do not claim the characters.

**Book 1: El Leon – **What happened before they joined Walker's team?

**Chapter 5: House Call**

Three months into their assignment, Sydney and Gage found themselves getting comfortable with their undercover lives. RJ had fully immersed them in their new identities, afraid to risk them even being seen going to the Ranger gym for exercise, or going home to their own apartments. Sydney went out to the market to buy her organic vegetables every third week and Gage brought home some of his favorite bachelor staples. They went to work at La Iglesia several days a week, taking Sydney's car, which had been re-registered under her assumed identity. They had learned to live together, even to share a bed -without touching – because, as Gage had ardently declared during one of their many arguments, Sydney couldn't live on the couch. Their clothes were hanging up in the closet, mixed together, and their underwear was stuffed in the same drawer in a small dresser they had found on the side of a street. They received their paychecks from La Iglesia, after a month of Gage watching Sydney at work, Ramon had seen fit to hire him as a bouncer, and, although they turned the money over to a private fund, the two of them lived on the exact dollar amount that Ramon paid them.

Sydney and Gage moved the couch against the wall every night to spar, keeping their bodies and minds sharp as they tested one another's reflexes. Even though Sydney didn't need to use her martial arts skills as a waitress, Gage handled almost one or two incidents a week at the club, and claimed to need the practice. Truthfully though, he just liked to spar with his partner. One night, halfway through a heated match, they heard someone knocking at the door.

Sydney faulted, and Gage pulled back his punch at the last moment, grazing his partner's cheek softly with his knuckles. Sydney gazed wide-eyed at Gage, questioning him about their visitor even as she called out in her falsetto voice, "Who's there?"

Ramon had two of his buddies with him, and listened to the muffled sounds of movement on the other side of the door, "Maria, it's me, we need to talk."

Sydney's blood chilled as she looked at Gage and herself, both of them in work-out gear, their bodies covered in a sheen of sweat. She bit back a curse word as Gage motioned to the couch. They silently moved couch back to its original spot and Sydney quickly came up with a plan, calling out to Ramon as she wrapped her hands around the bottom hem of Gage's shirt, "Un momento Ramon."

Gage felt his shirt being pulled over his head and stared at his partner as she tossed it over the recliner. She tugged his sweats down a little further on his hips, making sure that his boxers couldn't be seen, and dropped her own shorts in the middle of the living room, giving him a gorgeous view of her long, toned legs and bottom as she raced to the bedroom, her hand waving behind her, motioning Gage to answer the door.

Ramon was just about to knock again, a little impatient, when the door swung open before him, revealing Alex, his newest bodyguard, in a state of partial undress, looking as though Ramon had caught him in the middle of something and he was not happy with the interruption. Gage simply stared at the man, frowning as he let his irritation override the fear at almost being caught in an unexplainable situation.

Sydney strolled into the room, "Ramon, entre. Lo siento…you caught us a little by surprise," she giggled self-consciously before turning her eyes on her partner, "Alex, why you being such a fool. Let him in."

Ramon and Gage both turned their heads to look at the petite woman, Gage had to clench his jaw to keep his mouth from falling wide open. There was his partner, a woman who had lived with him for three months and never let him see her in less than a cami and shorts, standing in the middle of the living room in nothing but a black thong, her hands behind her back, clasping a matching bra over her beautiful, caramel-colored breasts. Finally she tossed a shirt, one of Gage's Hawaiian ones, over her shining body. The shirt fell over the lacy thong and Sydney immediately went to Ramon, standing on tip-toe to kiss his cheek, "Why you here Ramon? Something go down at work?"

Ramon smiled a crooked, apologetic smile at Gage before addressing the woman in front of him, "Maria, I'm so sorry to have interrupted…but we need to talk."

Sydney watched as the henchmen closed the door, waiting outside, and silently released the breath she had been holding. When Ramon had announced himself at the door, she could only think of two things that could explain why she and her partner would be so sweaty. Without thinking she'd made the decision to let Ramon think he'd caught them in bed. Now, as he smiled down at her, she knew that her quick thinking had worked, "You wanna sit Senor? Did ya need me at work?"

Ramon sat on the couch and Sydney sat with him, glaring at Gage, who was still standing by the door, "Hey, Alex. Go get some beers."

Returning her attention to her boss, Sydney raised her eyebrows inquisitively, but Ramon waited until Gage had handed him a beer before he answered the woman before him, "No. It's your day off and it looks like you've been enjoying it," Gage coughed awkwardly and gulped down some beer, "this isn't about La Iglesia…but about us…can I trust you Maria?"

Sydney's heart was pumping, she was so excited, this was it! Three months of working as a waitress and she finally had a chance to get into the backdoor business at La Iglesia. She forced herself to keep the excitement inside, instead placing a hand on Ramon's leg and leaning in, her face displaying slight confusion, "Si, senor, always."

Ramon turned his head, acknowledging Gage, "And you Alex? Can I trust you?"

Gage nodded decisively, "Yeah boss."

Ramon smiled, reaching a hand beneath his jacket. He saw the fear in Maria's eyes, believing that he was drawing a gun, and quickly withdrew a small package wrapped in white butcher paper, "I knew I could. You see, some things have been getting a little hot at the club lately, and my boss, the owner of the club, asked me to have some of our merchandise liquidated. Discreetly."

Sydney looked at the package, it was shaped like a book, but the way Ramon held it, and the rounded corners hinted at something different, "Que es?"

Ramon smiled, "Well, that depends on what you can do for me."

Sydney's eyebrows drew together, "Anything senor…within reason."

Ramon nodded, "Good. Then I'd like you to sell this. Divide it up or keep it whole, just get it gone. And bring back $20,000. Do this by Monday and you'll get a hefty cut."

Gage approached the two people on the couch, staring at the package, "$20,000 boss? What type of cut do we get?"

Ramon stood, leaving the package on the couch behind him, "Oh, you'll get a couple grand. But that's just the beginning Alex, stick with me…both of you, and you'll find out just how generous Ramon's pockets can be."

Sydney stood up, letting excitement glimmer through, "Oh Alex, we could go to Vegas…"

Gage had an intense look in his eyes as he stuck his hand out, "Okay boss. It's a deal. $20,000 cash on your desk when we come in Monday night. We leave the club with a couple of grand and nothing ever happened. It's as good as liquid."

Ramon shook Gage's hand, kissed Sydney's cheek and left, remarking to the both of them how much more fun they'd have after the deal was done.

Sydney shut the door behind Ramon and felt the smile spreading across her face; Gage sank into the recliner, grinning like a fool as he locked eyes with his partner. The little package sat, untouched, on the couch and Sydney looked at the clothing that was tossed around the room.

Giggling, she slid down the door, sitting on the stained carpet with her legs stretched out in front of her, Gage watched the movement, admiring the muscles in her thighs as she tensed then relaxed them, he let out a rush of air, "God Syd. That's was really quick thinking back there."

Sydney bit her lip, "I'm sorry, I just couldn't think of anything else that Maria and Alex would be doing that would have them that sweaty. I can't believe it worked."

Gage shook his head, "Don't apologize. That was, without a doubt, the greatest thing you've ever done. You saved out asses back there Cooke."

"You think so?"

Gage stared at her, was she seriously that clueless, "Yeah. I mean, you just saved my life…and yours. Although…"

Sydney looked at him, her eyes worried, "Although?"

Gage continued, mischief shining in his blue eyes, "Well, you could have put the bra on before you came out here…"

Syd grimaced, "Ugh…just don't tell anyone…ever."

Gage grinned wickedly, "I don't know, that was some pretty juicy stuff. What are you going to do to convince me not to tell?"

Sydney shot Gage a look that was pure menace, "Gage, I don't have to convince you. I would never have come out here like that…it's just that… I didn't have time to put it on."

Gage raised an eyebrow, mimicking his partner's trademark look, "Why not?"

Sydney smiled secretly, raising a hand and running it sensually through her hair, tangling her fingers in the silky curls before continuing to draw a pattern down her neck and towards her breast, she licked her lips as Gage followed the trail, his mouth hanging open and his eyes glazed, she slowly dipped her fingers into the pocket that covered her left breast, whispering, "Because I had to switch on the tape recorder."

Sydney fully withdrew a slender, black tape recorder from the pocket and held it, like a great treasure, in her hand as she finished speaking.

Gage was out of the recliner and had Sydney in his arms faster than she could finish her sentence. He grabbed her in a celebratory hug, letting out a whoop as he lifted her off the floor and swung her around and around, "Oh God Syd! You really do think of everything don't you!"

Laughing, Gage set his partner back down on the floor, following her to the kitchen where she carefully stashed the small recording device, complete with tape, in the briefcase beneath the sink. When she stood back up she too was smiling, her eyes shining with success, "I can't wait to tell Archer tomorrow when we eat lunch at the bar. Do you think we can get them to send down a Ranger who we can sell the merchandise to?"

Gage shrugged, "We'll see. I can't believe this. We're in Syd, we're actually in."

Sydney looked at their bookshelf. It held several bottles of untouched alcohol and she raised her brows in question, "You wanna celebrate?"

Gage followed her gaze, it was early in the evening still, but they had just been invited into the drug business by their boss, a step that no other Ranger or law enforcement team had yet to accomplish, "Yeah. What's your pleasure?"

Sydney looked at him and smirked, "Can you handle Jose Silver?"

Gage snagged it and popped open the cap as Sydney took two of the souvenir shot glasses that they had displayed on their kitchen counter. Settling in to the chairs at the kitchen table, Sydney and Gage drank to their success.


	6. Chapter 6: The Back Door

_**Hola amigos! Chapter six and we are finally entering into the heart of the story. Sorry that it took so long to get here (over 16,000 words to be exact) but I promise that Sydney and Gage are going to take you on one hell of a ride for the rest of this book. And, in Chapter six I'm introducing some characters I'm sure you all will recognize…**_

_**Despite this, I have noticed that there are few reviews on this story and would really appreciate critical assessment on these chapters. Even if you have nothing critical to say, if you could share your favorite moments with me…well, I'd be grateful. Enjoy the ride!**_

**The Rangers – **a series based upon WTR, with the focus on the two rangers who joined the force in the seventh season, Ranger Cooke and Ranger Gage. The characters are borrowed directly from the TV series, and some plot elements relate to certain episodes, but the main ideas are original to the author. I do not claim the characters.

**Book 1: El Leon – **What happened before they joined Walker's team?

**Chapter 6: The Back Door**

RJ sat at his desk, a box of evidence sitting on top of it, everything that his two undercover agents had managed to collect on Ramon was in that box. He smiled to himself, from the reports his other agents came in with, Rangers Cooke and Gage were amazing in their roles as Alex and Maria. Archer had come into RJs office one month ago with the first tape and a carefully packaged bundle of meth that proved Ramon was running a very profitable business out the back of La Iglesia. Since then, Sydney and Gage had gathered evidence that linked the black-eyed immigrant to a couple of recent murders as well as a really big drug deal. RJ was excited, he wanted to pull the trigger but knew at the same time that if he did, he wouldn't be able to bag El Leon. He was beginning to have doubts about keeping his agents in such deep undercover. Despite the amazing stories that came back about his two Rangers and the plethora of evidence they had managed to obtain, he didn't like it when an investigation went on this long. He knew that the more time someone spent undercover, the more likely it was that their cover…or their values, would be broken. He'd seen more good cops get lost that way than he wanted to think about.

Not all that eager to allow his Rangers to continue, RJ did the only thing he could do. He called in the big guns.

Lost in his reverie, RJ jerked backwards in his seat when his intercom buzzed, Linda's voice came through the phone loud and clear, "The Rangers from Company B are here, would you like me to send them up?"

RJ quickly recovered from his shock and reached for the button to respond, "Yes please, and Linda… hold my calls while they're here."

Standing, RJ paced the carpeted floor behind his desk for a few minutes before a sharp knock announced his guests, he quickly called for the visitors to come right in, an unnecessary gesture as two men in Cowboy hats were already striding into his office.

Ranger Walker's face was serious, his mouth a straight line and his blue eyes piercing beneath the brim of his black Stetson. He reached his right hand, scarred as it was, out to the waiting hand of the other Sergeant, flashing a partial, closed-mouthed smile at the other man as his eyes swept the room. His eyes settled on the box of evidence and Walker could practically feel the man's nervousness as his partner removed his hat and shook hands with RJ.

Trivette was the first to speak, "RJ! It's great to see you again. It's been a while since I've seen you…not since you got promoted to Sergeant. How's the job treating you?"

RJ smiled at Walker's exuberant partner, allowing a moment for some idle chit-chat about the job and his wife, Karen, and the kids. Walker had gone to the desk and was sifting through the contents of the box, mentally cataloguing the charges against Ramon that the two undercover Rangers had managed to supply enough evidence for. He knew the reason RJ had called him in, the two Rangers had been in deep cover for almost four months, and had only recently broken into the drug business at the base level. RJ was unsure as to whether he should continue to head-hunt for El Leon or get his Rangers out safely.

When Walker spoke his voice was firm, quiet but as piercing as his eyes, "Do you trust them?"

RJ flushed, even though his rank was equal to that of Walker's, the other man still managed to make him feel like a Junior Ranger. It was those eyes, clear-whitewater-rapid eyes, that had a way of tearing a man apart.

Returning to the spot behind his desk, RJ placed his hands on the evidence box before looking up at the other Ranger, "Of course."

Walker stared the man down, like he would a wild horse he was trying to tame, "The woman, she was only a Ranger a month before you put her on the case. And Gage, well, I know Ranger Gage well enough to know that he can be impulsive sometimes. Do you think they can continue to handle the case?"

RJ shrugged, Walker had pretty much hit the nail on the head, "I believe so, but if they can't… if they come back the same way Carlos did… I just don't know if I want to wait for that to happen."

Trivette finished the unspoken thought, "But, you don't want to pull them out because they are the last chance we'll have at getting to El Leon."

RJ rubbed the back of his head and sat down, "Exactly. Walker, what would you do?"

Walker looked at RJ, they were old friends, RJ had actually been a Junior Ranger in Company B when Walker was assigned Sergeant. He knew that the other man would only ask his advice if he was completely unsure about his next step. There was only one thing to do, "RJ, I believe that these two Rangers are in no immediate danger, but I'd like to talk to at least one of them. I've got a plan, but you need to let Trivette and I in on this investigation. I believe that if Company B shares some of our resources with you, we can really tear down El Leon's drug empire and the release the hold it has on Texas."

RJ eagerly agreed, his muscles, which he hadn't realized had been tight since the case had started, began to relax as Walker detailed his plan to talk to the undercover Rangers.

Sydney was freshening up her makeup when Gage walked in to the bathroom, he smiled at her in the mirror, his face easily visible above her head. She smiled back and applied one final dab of mascara, grimacing at the globs of it that she wore and trying hard not to blink until it dried. She was wearing street clothes today, the same jeans that she had worn when she'd picked Gage up on the first day of their investigation, and a tight pink cami that rose above her belly button. She had bright, shiny earrings dangling from beneath her hair, fake diamonds glinting in the faint light.

Gage grabbed his body-spray, giving himself a once over with it that had his partner pushing past him, and out the door of the bathroom, gasping for air, "God Gage! Do you have to use so much!"

Gage smiled, fixing his hair in the mirror before turning and following Sydney out of the confined space, "Yeah, I like to smell so strong that I can't smell the smoke when we go to Dos Cervezas. You think Archer will show?"

Sydney was in the kitchen, carefully gathering up a tape of a conversation they'd had with Ramon about another deal going down at one of El Leon's other bars. She was busy planting the tape in the package containing the Methamphetamine that they were going to 'sell' to Archer, a Ranger who was undercover as a well-known drug dealer – Ringo Hart, a man who had gone to prison right about the same time the El Leon investigation had started. So far, no one on the streets was aware that the real Ringo was in prison, so Archer's cover was safe and provided the best way for Sydney and Gage to move the drugs Ramon wanted them to, without busting anyone in the process.

She answered her partner without taking her eyes off of her work, "Yeah, he will."

At exactly 1:03pm, the two Rangers entered Dos Cervezas the way they did almost every week, arguing as Alex and Maria over an insignificant household problem. This time it was the roaches, which were really getting to Gage, who wanted to spray around the apartment with some bug-killer, but had been forbidden to do so because of Sydney's allergies.

"Dammit Maria, I don't care if you get the sniffles. I want the god-damn bugs gone!"

Sydney stormed over to their usual table, a secluded booth in the back of the room that allowed at least one of them a perfect view of the entire bar, "If I got allergies than I don' look so good. The boys at La Iglesia won't give me all those tips you love to buy your beer wit! You ain't sprayin' that crap in my apartment."

Gage noted that Archer had walked in, followed closely by another Ranger who Gage had met only once before…he motioned to his friend before glaring at Sydney, "Your apartment eh? Who pays the bills for your precious apartment? Who buys your precious food? Who spends hundreds of dollars on that crap you put on your face? It's my apartment Maria. I don't want to hear another word out of you about…"

Archer slid into the booth, interrupting Gage, "Alex. How's it going?"

Gage shot Sydney a look, it was dark and threatening. She raised an eyebrow at him and masticated loudly on her gum, crossing her arms in front of her breasts before looking Ranger Trivette straight in the eye, "Who you?"

Trivette was wearing tight black pants, made out of some sort of plastic to resemble fake leather, and a black shirt that was tucked into those pants. He had his mean face on, "Shut up woman."

Gage shot out his arm to stop Sydney from jumping over the table, he looked at Archer, "Who's this? You know I don't like it when you bring company."

Archer kept his gaze stony, serious, even though he was quivering on the inside, terrified of the new situation that had arisen that morning with a call from RJ, "Grant. This is Mitch Grant. He's a buddy of mine, just got out. He wants in."

Gage leaned across the table, staring Trivette right in the eye, he carefully whispered, "You a Ranger too?" before speaking normally, "Ringo tell you about what we got goin?"

Trivette nodded, "Yeah. I want in. I still got some good contacts and could use the money."

Sydney decided that Maria had pouted enough and, still leaning back in the booth, tossed out angrily, "Yeah? We need money too."

Trivette looked at Archer, who nodded, and he unceremoniously tossed a small black bag across the table at Sydney, "Here's your green."

Sydney opened the bag, letting Gage look in at the hundred dollar bills with her; she slipped a little white note out, hiding it with her nimble fingers, before zipping the bag back up and handing it to her partner, "It's good."

The note was read secretly while Gage continued on the conversation with the two men, then it was passed to Gage, who read it and quickly tucked it away in his jeans pocket. The note had only seven words, "Get arrested, run to Ramon for bail." The two of them immediately understood why there was a second man at the bar, and as Gage passed the carefully wrapped package across the table, he bumped Trivette's beer, spilling it over the man's lap. Archer quickly hid the meth in his jacket and sat back as Trivette exploded.

Trivette stood up, angrily swiping at his clothing, "Hey asshole, you got a problem?"

Gage stood up to, "Yeah I got a problem! You."

Trivette snarled, reaching for the money bag that was clasped in Gage's hand, "Fine, if you got a problem with me…"

Sydney scooted along the bench and barged in front of Gage, pushing Trivette in the chest, "No way!"

Trivette punched her. Straight in the jaw, and noted, with a little satisfaction, that she took it like a man and spat at him. But that was the undoing of Gage, he pushed Sydney back into the booth and grabbed Trivette by his shirtfront, tossing him into a table and knocking it down, "Lay off my woman!"

Archer got up, kicking the now-dropped money bag under the table toward Sydney, and quickly dodged the fighting couple, running out the door and down the street. Any smart drug dealer would have done the same. Sydney grabbed the bag and emptied it of the money, stuffing it into her jeans as a man she had idolized since the Academy stormed in through the front door of the bar.

Walker had waited for his signal, Ranger Archer running out the door, and had raced across the street and into Dos Cervezas, drawing his gun, "Texas Ranger!"

Gage was just about to jump onto Trivette again when he heard the shout. He almost reached for his gun to help out the other Ranger, before he remembered that he was the bad guy. Angrily he rounded on the Texas Ranger, a flicker of recognition registering in his eyes before he took his first swing.

"Get the hell out of here Ranger, this isn't your business."

Walker dodged the fist and quickly caught Gage with the back of his gun, stunning the young Ranger, "It is now. You're under arrest for assaulting an officer."

Sydney ran forward, crying, "No, No! Don't take him; it was that man who started the fight! Don't take my Alex! How will I live wit-out him? You pig!"

Trivette stood up, dizzy, and spat at his partner, "Damn Ranger. Get out of here."

Walker kicked him in the stomach, still holding Gage by the scruff of his neck, "It's a bad day for you Grant. I'm booking you too."

Sydney was still wailing hysterically, clinging to Gage as though she couldn't live without him. Walker carefully peeled her hands off of her partner and took a few of the 'girly' punches she threw at his chest before pushing her backwards, onto her butt, "Sit down. I would stop screaming right now if you don't want to be booked with your boyfriend here."

Sydney shut up and stayed where she was, sitting on top of the splintered remains of a bar table, until Walker had taken her partner and Trivette to his truck and called for a squad car. Once they had rounded the corner she got up and began to run, mentally calculating her next move.

Ramon was sitting at his desk in the back, going over some requests that El Leon had sent in, when he heard the commotion out front. Recognizing the wailing sound of a woman, he quickly shoved the files into a drawer and ran out the door and into his main bar area. Chavez was holding back a screaming Maria not ten feet in front of Ramon, taking punches and kicks that simply bounced off of his muscular chest.

Sydney was screaming hysterically, "Chavez. Let me in. I need to see Ramon! I need to see…" When she saw the dark man she stopped fighting, slumping in the giant's arms and crying, "Ramon! It's Alex. Some stupid Ranger got 'im. He was fighting. You need to save him. I can't live wit-out him Ramon! I love him!"

Ramon looked at Chavez and nodded once. Sydney was unceremoniously dumped back onto the ground. She ran to Ramon and took hold of his arm, which was crossed over his chest, with both of her hands. Looking into his eyes, her own tear-filled and shimmering, she begged, "Ramon, please. I don' know what to do wit-out Alex."

Ramon took the woman's hand and led her to the back-door, speaking over his shoulder as he did, "Chavez. Grab some Jose. And don't let anyone else in."

Sydney's heart was pounding, and not just from running the eighteen blocks to La Iglesia. From what she'd observed, most of the people who went through the big, wooden door at the rear of the bar either never came out, or didn't come out smiling. She and Gage had been working on a way to get into that room, to find files or plant a bug, but had been unable to find a time to do it. Even flirting with Chavez wouldn't get Sydney near the door, and God knows she'd tried. But now here she was, feigning hysteria as Ramon took her through the door and into a room that was simple and masculine. She continued to verbally lament the activities that occurred at Dos Cervezas while she scanned the room.

It was probably the size of a bedroom, 10x12, and the back wall was covered with bookshelves. There was a door to the right, behind the desk, and the carpet was dark-red. The walls were wood paneling that was stained to match the bookshelves. Sydney noticed that there were no pictures up anywhere in the room, and that the small filing cabinet she did see was securely locked.

Ramon sat the woman down in a chair in front of his desk, noticing how her big, almond-shaped eyes swept over the room. He waited patiently for Chavez to bring in the Jose, excusing him once he had left the bottle on the large, president-style desk. Two shot glasses seemed to appear from nowhere and Ramon poured the golden liquid, carefully filling both glasses to the brim. Sydney was now sitting silently across from Ramon, tear-stains down both sides of her face, and she took the glass he proffered, cupping it gently in her hands.

Ramon smiled, "Drink it. It will help you recover from the shock."

Sydney sipped the liquid, enjoying the bite of the alcohol on her tongue before she allowed it to slide down the back of her throat, a burning river into the pit of her stomach that slowly spread fire through her veins. Sniffling, she whispered, "Fue horrible senor."

Ramon left his drink untouched and leaned forward, reaching his large, manicured hand across the desk to pat her smaller one, "Tell me what happened Maria."

Sydney took another fortifying sip and began her mentally rehearsed story, complete with sniffles, "Senor. We met wit our man, like we do every week. But dis time he brought some other guy. Grant…Mitch Grant, or somat like dat. Dis man had the money, he wanted in. Just got out, he said, and he had the money."

Sydney reached into her pants, carefully withdrawing the hundred dollar bills from where she had stashed them earlier. She laid the wad of cash onto the desk, knowing that the money was the only thing Ramon really cared for. She continued slowly, "Ramon. I grabbed the money when they were fighting. Grant tried to take it back. Then…oh! Fue horrible! Grant hit me. And Alex, oh Alex! He tried to protect me. Hit the asshole back! But then…"

Ramon's fingers never left the back of her hand, but his eyes, which were icy before, slowly melted with her story…and the money, he murmured sensuously, "Continue…"

Sydney shuddered, "Senor. Estaba un Texas Ranger. He burst in and arrested them. Grant and Alex. Ringo ran off with the stuff. And I got the money. But Alex…Senor, por favor…I need Alex! He can't go to jail!"

Ramon assessed the situation quickly. He knew that Maria cared deeply for her boyfriend. And although he himself would like a shot at the hot little woman, he knew that if he refused to bail out her beloved, she could turn on him as quickly as so many other bitches had. He removed his hand from hers and took the money, carefully counting out the two-hundred bills before putting it into a drawer with a lock. He did not notice the brown eyes that followed his every move intently as he tucked the key into his shirt-front pocket. Picking his shot glass up he motioned for Sydney to do the same, and smiled at the distraught woman, "You did right to come to me Maria," he toasted her, watching her face as she took the liquid back just as quickly as he did, she drank it well, "Go home now, I will get your Alex back. Chavez will call you to pick him up here, tomorrow."

Sydney drank the burning liquid, rejoicing as it settled in her stomach, quenching the last bit of fear. Had Ramon refused, she could only imagine that she would have to continue the case alone, and she knew that she would probably end up in a body bag if she didn't have her partner around to save her ass.

Her eyes still shining she smiled brightly at the man across from her, "Oh Gracias Senor. Gracias!"

Ramon waited until Maria left, pouring himself another shot of Jose before calling in his most trusted man, "Chavez!"

The big man ducked through the door, his bulky body brushing the frame of the door as he squeezed into his boss's office. Standing he looked into Ramon's eyes, "Yeah Boss?"

Ramon ran his finger around the rim of his glass, mentally picturing the woman he would have later that evening as he smiled, "Arrange for bail to be posted for Alex Bates. Make sure to pick him up and bring him straight here…"

Chavez smiled cruelly, "You gonna teach him a lesson boss?"

Ramon's eyes glinted, "Yes. I believe he deserves one."


	7. Chapter 7: Lessons

_**Hey guys, Chapter seven has arrived. I would really appreciate some feedback on these last few chapters, favorite parts, things you'd like to have seen, things I could have done better. Whatever. I'm sorry that this chapter is so short, barely 2,400 words, but I promise that you'll love it. The next chapter should be coming along shortly, I'm on such a roll, and even though I would love to say that I'm withholding it until I get some more reviews…well, I want to read it in full format just as much as you do. Enjoy the Ride!**_

**The Rangers – **a series based upon WTR, with the focus on the two rangers who joined the force in the seventh season, Ranger Cooke and Ranger Gage. The characters are borrowed directly from the TV series, and some plot elements relate to certain episodes, but the main ideas are original to the author. I do not claim the characters.

**Book 1: El Leon – **What happened before they joined Walker's team?

**Chapter 7: Lessons**

Gage was sitting in an interrogation room, rubbing the back of his head and wincing when his hand passed over the small bump caused by Walker's gun, when Walker and Trivette entered the room. Standing up, Gage reached out his hand to the two men and asked the only question he had been wanting to ask, "How's Syd?"

Walker smiled, more sure now than he had been before that the team would survive undercover and just might be the ones to bust the organization, shaking Gage's hand he responded, "She's fine. Archer watched her go back into the apartment. Ramon should bail you out by tomorrow."

Gage released a whoosh of air from his lungs and sat back down in the uncomfortable metal chair. Walker and Trivette took their seats across from him before Walker continued, "RJ asked Trivette and I to help him with this case, he's worried about your cover. How are you two holding up in there? Four months is a long time to be separated from real life."

Gage shrugged, he hadn't called his sister, Julie, since before the investigation had started, but she was pretty used to him just disappearing off the face of the earth for months on end, "We're doing good. Had a close call with Ramon about a month ago, but then he surprised us by welcoming us into the drug side of the business with open arms. Now we've collected enough evidence to put him away for ten-life sentences, and more. We can also connect him with the managers of at least two of El Leon's other businesses in the area."

Walker noticed the flush that crept up Gage's neck as he mentioned the close call, but, having read the reports on it, decided not to inquire about it and moved on, "Yes, you guys have certainly gotten more than anyone else before you has. The question is, do you think that you can get El Leon?"

Gage thought about it. He and Sydney were a great team, they worked well undercover and had managed to get further into El Leon's organization than anyone before them had. Despite his nonchalant attitude, Gage knew the dangers of long-term undercover work, but he wasn't feeling any strain with his role as Alexander Bates. His blue eyes meeting those of Walker's, he instantly knew what the older Ranger was really asking, can Ranger Cooke handle it?

Gage scowled, "Ranger Walker, Sydney and I are bound and determined to take El Leon for a long walk down the halls of justice, but we don't want to rush things. Even if this investigation takes us a year, we will hold our cover and continue gathering evidence to put Ramon and his men into the big house. Assuming, of course, that you decide we're capable enough to continue. Although we haven't had a chance to meet with El Leon yet, and I am sure we will eventually, we have been careful enough to hold our cover and gain Ramon's trust," Gage paused, watching the intensity of the older Ranger, and noting the goofy smile on Trivette's face, before continuing in a deadly serious voice, "Besides. How many more resources do the Texas Rangers have to deal with El Leon if we pull out now? Face it Walker, whether you believe we can do it or not, whether you believe Sydney can do it, we're the last chance you've got."

Trivette sat back in his chair grinning like a fool. Inwardly he was incredibly impressed with the gall of the Junior Ranger, the fact that he laid his cards out on the table without a moment's hesitation was something to respect. He could see why RJ would pick the young Ranger for the undercover mission, but Trivette still worried about the greener of the two Rangers, and, slightly ashamed of himself, acknowledged that this was at least partially due to the fact that Ranger Cooke was a woman. But Gage seemed to trust her enough to stand up to Walker…

Walker's thoughts followed along the same path as Trivettte's, only he wasn't smiling. Walker was a man who liked to keep his cards to himself, only showing the ones that created the winning hand. But he knew that Gage was right, and knew that Gage knew that he was right. With a half-smile, Walker probed the young man a bit more, "Maybe you misunderstood me Ranger Gage, I wasn't just referring to your ability to finish the case, but also to your professionalism. Ranger Cooke is a beautiful woman…"

Gage rose out of his chair, his face red and his eyes narrowed. He reached across the table and almost grabbed Walker by the shirt front, dropping his hands to the metal tabletop at the last moment with murder in his eyes, "Sydney and I's relationship is purely professional. And you're right, she is beautiful, but you insult her to insinuate that even if I had put forth romantic overtones, she would act on them. She's a damn good Ranger, Walker, and I won't have you or any of the other chauvinists in this organization insulting her professionalism just because of the difference in her anatomy. You got that?"

Walker smiled, remaining seated as he admired the man before him. He really didn't care that Ranger Cooke was a female, well, not as much as he let Gage believe, but what he wanted to see was that Ranger Gage could stand up for his partner, and respect her. Because, as Walker knew all too well, if you didn't respect your partner and cover their butt, even if it meant standing up against your superiors, you would never make it out of the field alive.

"I'm sorry Ranger Gage, you're correct. I am proud to say that I believe that you and Ranger Cooke are the link to El Leon that we've been waiting for. When El Leon calls to let you in on a bigger deal, Trivette and I will be ready to back you up."

Gage sat back down in his seat with a sense of pride. Ranger Walker, a legend at the Academy, had just apologized to him. Not only that, but he'd promised to be there to back him up when the El Leon investigation came to a close. Retaining the stony glint in his eyes, he kept his pleasure hidden as he answered the rest of Walker and Trivette's questions, he took a deep breath as he was led, handcuffed, back to his cell, and waited, somewhat impatiently, for Ramon to bail him out.

Sydney was sitting alone in front of the TV, watching some late night Jay Leno because there was nothing else on. After she had run to Ramon for help she had returned to the apartment and locked herself in. Bored, she had scoured the apartment, cleaning it until it was gleaming, she'd even gone so far as to ask the Super to lend her his vacuum. Inwardly grimacing as the man's lazy eyes travelled her scantily clad body. But the cleaning had only wasted a few hours, and since then she'd been stretched out on the couch, bored to death because it was her day off, trying not to think about Gage.

It was lonely, she realized, waiting around for her friend and partner to return. Sydney had lived alone for most of her life, even when she'd been living in her parent's house and then her Grandmother's, she had been alone, favoring her introverted world of crime mysteries and day dreams to the cruel realities of life. When her parents had left for their jobs one day and never come home, Sydney had been shipped across the border to live with her Grandmother, a lonely, wrinkled old woman whose quiet intensity was something Sydney had come to count on. But, after living for four months in a small 500 sq ft apartment with a man she barely knew, she had almost come to depend on him to be around all the time. Well, she thought with a huff, of course she depended on him. They were partners, he had to watch her back and she watched his. But, turning the TV off and letting the darkness close around her, Sydney silently acknowledged that she'd come to rely on Francis Gage for so much more than just watching her back.

She relied on him to make her laugh. How many times had he splashed her when they were fighting over the sink brushing their teeth? How many nights had they both come home weary and disappointed because the case was going too slowly and they were getting nowhere and Gage would suddenly recommend a game of cards to cheer themselves? She had come to depend on her partner to keep her spirits up, and she enjoyed it when she too could make him smile or laugh. Sydney's eyes were drifting closed when her mind shifted to how good looking her partner was, and, perturbed, she fervently fought against the small tug deep down in her gut that told her that maybe she wanted to depend on her partner for more than just some laughter. Fervently ignoring the feeling, Sydney fell into a dreamless sleep on the couch, the last image to leave her mind being that of the tanned, smiling face of her partner.

When Gage walked out of the jail he was expecting to see some of Ramon's men. When the only one he saw was Chavez, he mentally groaned, it was not going to be a good day. Chavez smiled halfway at the goofy bouncer strolling confidently out of the jail, ever so slightly sad about what he was going to have to do. When Gage got to him he stuck his hand out, "Alex. You got in a bit of trouble, eh?"

Gage grinned, looking up (and up and up) at the Mexican's face and seeing the hint of coldness, "Yeah. Thanks to Ramon it wasn't too bad though. You'll thank him for me?"

Chavez smiled, "No senor…Ramon thought that you would like to thank him yourself. Let's go," opening the back door of a large, black van, Chavez waited for Gage to get in before slamming it and jumping into the driver's seat. Behind him, a man on a bench was writing down the license plate and VIN numbers that he had gotten off the car.

Ramon was waiting in his office when Chavez brought Gage in. He heard a muffled groan and turned to smile at the beautiful brunette who was tied and gagged in the chair behind him. When Gage walked in he noticed Ramon turn, and saw the woman in the chair - his heart stopped beating and his eyes widened in shock.

Her brown eyes were full of fear, and for a moment Gage thought that it was Sydney, but at the questioning look in his eyes, Ramon took the woman's face in his hands and spoke cruelly, "No. It is not your beloved Maria. But she does bare a fair resemblance, ay?" Ramon waited for a response, and when he received none he continued, "This is a woman who knew better than to cross me, but decided not to listen to her better judgment."

The sharp contact of the back of Ramon's hand with the woman's face rang around the room. The woman had tears in her eyes, and was pleading with Ramon from behind her gag. Ramon momentarily forgot that Gage was standing in the room behind him, with Chavez's hand on his arm. For a moment he locked on to his hatred and reason fled his mind.

Gage called out for Ramon to stop as he laid blow after crushing blow on the woman's face. He listened to the angry tirade that Ramon babbled and felt utter terror clutch at him, crawling up his spine, as he realized that Ramon had lost it. He was utterly crazy with hatred. In minutes the beating stopped and the woman lay, slumped over and bruised, in her bonds. Ramon turned to Gage and saw the horror in his eyes, he smiled cruelly and carefully wiped the blood from his hands, blood that his fierce pounding had drawn to the woman's now crushed face.

His voice was thin and dark, "Now you see what happens when someone crosses Ramon?"

Gage managed to find his voice, "Yeah Boss. But…"

Ramon cut him off, waving his hand through the air like a blade, "I cannot afford to have my associates taken to jail. We cannot deal with such foolish mistakes as the one you made yesterday. Be thankful that your little bitch brought the money straight to me, or believe me…you'd be worse off than this one," he motioned to the barely-breathing woman behind him, "But, Alex. You must learn this lesson well."

Gage clenched his jaw, realizing what was happening, and pleaded as he thought Alex might plead, "But I didn't do anything boss. We got the goods out of there, and Maria brought the money. The cops didn't even ask about you, they just told me not to fight in bars and held me overnight…they didn't even know…"

Ramon looked at Chavez and the big man buried his fist in Gage's stomach, effectively halting his excuses, Ramon waited for Gage to look at him, "Alex. You will never fight in a bar again, unless I tell you to. You will never get arrested again, unless you are protecting me or my merchandise. And you will tell your buyer that you want ten-grand more the next time you sell, because of the trouble his idiotic stunt cost you. Understand?"

Gage nodded, and Chavez punched him in the gut again, forcing all the air out of the smaller man.

Ramon pinched his lips together, "I couldn't hear you Alex."

Gage gasped for air, looking at the cruel man before him as Chavez punched him once more, finally he managed to get enough air and choked out a broken, "Yes Ramon."

Ramon turned from Gage, admiring his handiwork on the woman as he remarked to Chavez over his shoulder, "Finish teaching our friend here a lesson, then send him back to his girlfriend. Tell her that I don't want to see either of them near the club anymore. Their jobs now are to keep my merchandise on the streets. And that I will call her with the next batch and she had better be ready."

Chavez nodded and dragged Gage out the door to the right of the desk.

Sydney heard the knocking on the door through the dark world of deep sleep. The hollow pounding slowly infiltrated the layers of darkness and crept into her conscious brain like a hammer slowly encouraging a nail into the wood. She sat up and looked around her surroundings, realizing that she had fallen asleep on the couch and that sunlight was streaming in through the bedroom window, creating a narrow strip of light in the windowless living room. Standing she called out groggily, "Si, quien es?" Before realizing that the person on the other side of the door might not speak Spanish, she quickly added, "Who's there?"

Chavez called from the other side of the door, supporting the unconscious body of Gage as he ceased his pounding on the door, "It's me Maria, I've brought Alex back."

Sydney looked down and realized that she was wearing the same outfit as the day before, not really caring and too eager to see Gage, she raced the short distance to the door and tossed it open, her mouth was open with a greeting when she saw Gage tossed over the big man's shoulder, "Wha…."

Chavez pushed Sydney out of the way, quietly apologizing to her with his eyes as he gently laid Gage on the worn-out love seat. Sydney rushed to Gage's side and was checking over him to assess the damage when she remembered who she was supposed to be, lifting her eyes to the big man she quietly asked, "What happened?"

Chavez shrugged, knowing better than to divulge too much information, "Ramon taught him a lesson."

Sydney gritted her teeth, anger flooding her belly like a tide, she bit off her angry retort and continued to moon over Gage's body, whispering little sentences she thought that Maria would whisper to Alex.

Chavez cleared his throat, wanting to leave but knowing he had to relay the information Ramon had told him to, he reached a hand out to touch Maria's shoulder, and was surprised when she whirled on him and grabbed his forearm fiercely, "Leave Chavez."

The giant man was startled by the unexpected fury in the little woman's eyes, but he assumed that she was just upset because she'd never seen a man so beaten, and probably because she knew it had been his fists that delivered it, he decided the best thing to do was deliver Ramon's message and let her take care of Alex in peace, "Senorita, Ramon has decided that you two can no longer work at the club. He wants you to focus all your energy on the safe delivery of his merchandise to whoever you sell it to. And Maria," he spoke softly, offering the only comfort he could to the woman who had made him feel like a human with her quick smile and gentle touch, "he is going to call you next week, to set up a meeting for the next pick up. Be ready."

With his part said he looked once more on the beaten body of his former co-worker, and walked out the door, pausing only momentarily to utter one last piece of advice, "Oh, and Maria, do not take him to a hospital unless you want to end up in the bed next to him."

The slamming door served to punctuate his warning and Sydney sat on the floor next to Gage, processing the situation and determining her next step.


	8. Chapter 8: Beaten

_**Chapter eight is here, and hold on to your seats guys…it might just be a bumpy ride. I know there hasn't been a lot of romance in the past few chapters, but if you can just hold on for a few more…the story is really starting to get rolling, and we've got an unknown woman with an unknown fate who Gage last saw in Ramon's office, and Gage himself, the only valid witness to this crime, is unconscious on his loveseat. You get a little perspective on the internal musings of the characters in this chapter, but it's more about the Ride. **_

**The Rangers – **a series based upon WTR, with the focus on the two rangers who joined the force in the seventh season, Ranger Cooke and Ranger Gage. The characters are borrowed directly from the TV series, and some plot elements relate to certain episodes, but the main ideas are original to the author. I do not claim the characters.

**Book 1: El Leon – **What happened before they joined Walker's team?

**Chapter 8: Beaten**

Sydney waited until she was certain Chavez was gone. Slightly shaken by this turn of events she got up and lightly padded to the door, locking it carefully before returning to Gage's side.

His left cheek had the blue promise of a wicked bruise and Sydney realized that that must have been the knock-out punch. She carefully trailed her fingertips along the masculine features of his face, checking for any difference between his un-bruised cheek and the one that had received a blow from Chavez. She knew that the big man could have broken Gage's jaw without trying, and tensely double-checked that there wasn't any bone out of place on her partner's handsome face. Finding none, she quickly undid the buttons of his Hawaiian shirt; this one was blue with pretty girls posing in bikinis on the beach. She slid the shirt off of his chest, admiring half-heartedly how broad and strong his shoulders looked before she swept her gaze across his chest.

It was bad. She could already see the swelling around his rib cage, and bruises covered most of his chest, with one particularly bad one wrapping around his side, the tail end of it hidden by the back of the couch. Biting her lip because she knew it would hurt him, she began to press firmly against each rib, checking for any cracking that her pressure would cause. She winced each time she heard the distinctive creak of bone rubbing bone, determining that he had at least three broken ribs. His breathing was steady and she was pretty sure that none of the ribs had punctured his lungs.

Sitting back on her haunches she looked at her partner, wishing that there was some way to roll him over so that she could see where that one bruise led to. She was worried that he had more bruises, and possible more cracked ribs, on his back too, but she knew that if she rolled him onto his side it would put more pressure onto the broken ribs she'd already discovered. She could almost feel the pain of it and opted to try and sit him up to look at his back.

Gage felt like shit. He remembered Chavez apologizing to him after the office door closed, and then he saw the fists. He tried to defend himself, but his breath had already been knocked out of him and he knew that if he fought it would only be worse. He could see the broken face of the woman who looked like Sydney, her eyes pleading with him, in his mind as Chavez dealt several severe blows to his chest. Turning, he tried to run to the woman, who he heard crying out again, but Chavez caught him with a hefty fist in the side, and pummeled his back, forcing Gage to turn and face his opponent. That's when the knock-out punch came. Hard and fast from a man who looked like he belonged in a boxing ring with the champs.

Now, Gage felt hands on his back and a soft body pressed up against his chest. He heard breathing, steady and strong, but labored, as his body shifted. Fighting the dizzying world between consciousness and blackness, he let his head loll forward onto a soft pillow, letting his weight lean against that pillow as two hands traveled slowly down his back. As they put pressure on the spot where Chavez had caught him, Gage groaned.

Sydney instantly removed her hands, almost stepping back before remembering that she was supporting the head of her partner, stumbling over her words she grabbed Gage's face in her hands and tried to pull it up to look at him, "Gage! Gage, oh I'm so sorry, are you okay? Did I hurt you?"

Gage felt her fingers dig into his jaw and decided that it would hurt worse to open his eyes and lift his head on his own. When he did he noticed that his pillow was not a pillow at all, but it was a stomach, bemused, he murmured, "My pillow has a belly button."

Sydney laughed, it was stressed laughter that sounded out of place in the serious atmosphere of the apartment, she put both of her hands on Gage's shoulders to support his weight, and stepped back, "Come on Gage…look at me. Lift your head big guy."

Gage slowly complied, raising his eyes and head as one, accidentally checking out his partner from a whole new perspective. He smiled up at her, crookedly because of the swelling on the left side of his face, "Hey Chiquita. You miss me?"

Sydney cried in relief, ignoring the use of her despised nickname, she dropped down to her knees so that he wouldn't have to keep his head raised, "Oh God Gage! What happened to you…you look like hell."

Gage looked into her eyes, leaning his forehead against her smaller one as he tried to remember why the color of her eyes was so important. He had a brief flash of Sydney tied to a chair, her face bashed in, and he cried out, "No! No, no, he beat you, Ramon beat you, he just went off the deep end and kept pounding your face with his fists…"

Sydney's eyes showed concern and Gage slowly stopped his tirade, realizing that the woman's face before him was not bruised and broken. He shook his head, the movement causing Sydney's head to move with his. He smiled slightly, but then remembered the eyes again, "Sydney, your eyes… she had your eyes. He beat her Syd. We need to save her."

Sydney felt her heart pounding, the adrenaline rushing through her system at her partner's words, "He beat who Gage? Where is she?"

Gage suddenly sat back, leaning his aching body against the couch, he closed his eyes, mentally picturing the scene, "Chavez took me straight to La Iglesia. We went into the office. Ramon was there, but he was turned away from us. I heard a muffled sound and looked past Ramon, there was a woman, oh god, she looked so much like you…" Sydney furrowed her brow at the worried anguish she heard in his voice, "But Sydney…she was tied up, to a chair. Ramon told me that she had crossed him, and she had to pay. He beat her, beat the crap out of her. Ruined her face, she was still alive, but barely, and then he turned to me. I couldn't help her. And I had to be Alex. God I hated it, I hate Alex. Ramon told Chavez to teach me a lesson and to bring me here. We left and I heard the woman cry out. I couldn't help her Sydney…I couldn't help her!"

Sydney saw the tears streaking her partner's face, and she knew what she had to do. Standing up she looked at Gage with fierce determination, "Gage, I need you to promise me that you are going to stay here. I need you to use the emergency cell and tell Walker what happened. Tell him that somebody needs to break into our apartment tonight, somebody who can help you with your ribs and face. And tell him that I'll call with the whereabouts of an injured woman when I get back."

Gage shook his head, trying to stand, "No Syd. I'm coming with you."

Sydney pushed him back into the cushions, running to the kitchen she grabbed the emergency cell and hurried back to hand it to Gage. He was trying to stand again, and Sydney could literally hear the bones cracking as he tried.

"God help me Gage, but if you don't sit down right this second I will knock you out myself. I need you to be here. For me. For that woman. To call Walker and let him know what happened. Okay?"

Gage only nodded, realizing that Sydney was right; he would be unable to help her unless he stayed where he was. Seconds later she was gone, slamming the door behind her and racing down the street. Gage said a silent prayer to God for his partner's safety, and slowly dialed the numbers he knew by heart.

Sydney didn't have time to formulate a plan, she figured the best she could do was barge in and be angry at Ramon for hurting Alex. As she rounded the corner of the street to La Iglesia she noticed a big, black van driving around the back of the club. Deciding to ditch her own ride, and the sketchy plan she'd come up with, she drove down a nearby alley and parked her car behind a dumpster, hoping that no one from the club would see it or recognize it. Leaving her car, Sydney headed stealthily down the alley to the back of the building, crossing a couple of fences as quietly as she could until she could see into the back area of the club. She hid herself behind a portion of wood fencing, peering around it to see what was happening.

The scene was sickening.

Ramon was standing at the back door, the door that was undoubtedly the one that came straight out of his office, and he was puffing away at a cigar. Chavez was holding a woman, Sydney thought that Gage was right, the woman did look like her, in his big arms, and two other men were motioning for the van to come closer. The woman was beaten terribly, her face almost unrecognizable, and Sydney slowly moved closer as Ramon began to talk.

As Ramon spoke he ground his cigar into the woman's arm, she didn't move and Sydney feared that she was too late, "Pepe, get that stuff out of the van and make room for Ms. Marta. She's going to need a ride to her grave."

Pepe was apparently the smaller of the two goons, and he immediately tossed open the back doors of the van, revealing hundreds of white-wrapped packages like those that Sydney and Gage had been turning over to the Rangers for just about a month. Sydney's throat constricted as she realized just how much Meth was getting out into the streets despite the Rangers best efforts. Pepe carelessly tossed the meth into a dumpster at the back of La Iglesia, and Sydney suddenly remembered seeing a truck from a trash company she had never heard of, drive around the side of La Iglesia once when she was driving to work. At the time she had thought it odd that the trash truck was out that late, but now she realized that it might have something to do with how El Leon transported all those drugs and never got busted. She filed away this information as she watched Chavez carefully place the woman - Marta, was that what Ramon had called her? - into the back of the van. Her hands and feet were still bound, and she was definitely unconscious, if not dead. Sydney bit her lip, hoping that it wasn't the latter.

As the van drove off Sydney realized that she couldn't chase it down without blowing her cover. She was just about to abandon her hiding spot when she felt two black eyes burning into her. Carefully turning she looked across the parking lot and saw Ramon staring intently at a group of trashcans not ten feet from where she was.

His eyes swept over to her hiding place and he tilted his head to one side, Sydney felt ice run through her veins, certainly Ramon had seen her… but Chavez chose that moment to speak up and diverted his boss' attention, "Hey boss. You ready? We gotta get to The Shore to meet with…"

Ramon cut the air with his hand and turned, scowling, at his bodyguard, "Shut up. Drive around and pick me up."

Sydney waited until Ramon had turned away and then sprinted all the way back to her car, never once looking behind her. Once inside she quelled the urge to peal out of the alley and drive like a maniac to the Ranger Station. Instead, she carefully made sure that no one was watching as she pulled out of the alley and headed, driving the speed limit, back to her apartment.

Gage had called Walker and told him what Sydney wanted him to say, and now he was sitting, useless, on the couch, his imagination running wild with all the reasons Sydney hadn't returned yet. She was captured, Ramon was beating her like he had the other woman. Chavez got to take a turn at his petite partner, and snapped her like a twig. Then she was running, running down the street with gunshots being fired behind her. Ramon's black eyes burned into Gage's mind as he pictured him pulling the trigger, and he saw the jerk of Sydney's body at the impact of the bullet. Her beautiful, lively eyes turning dull in an instant.

He was sweating, almost hyperventilating and trying to calm himself down when he heard pounding fists on the door, quickly followed by urgent cries, "Alex! Alex, let me in you ass! Let me in!"

Amazed that his partner could remember her role as Maria at a time like this, Gage slowly got to his feet and moved as quickly as he could to the door, yanking it open to a very urgent Sydney. She took two steps into the room, kicked the door shut and demanded that Gage lock it.

Gage quickly did as he was told, never questioning his partner as she reached for the cell-phone he still had in his hand and hit the re-dial button.

The phone rang twice before a familiar voice was heard on the other side, "Walker…"

Sydney cut him off, "Walker, it's Ranger Cooke, I need you to get somebody out on the road, quickly. There is a big, black van with the license plate AU1943, Texas plates, heading East out of our part of town. Have them wait until the van stops, they should be dumping either a live woman or a body…I'm not sure. Just save her. Bye."

Sydney slammed the phone shut, turned it off completely and ran to the kitchen, not calming her racing mind until the phone was securely stashed with the rest of their Ranger stuff. Falling to the ground with the closed cabinet doors behind her, Sydney tried to calm her frazzled nerves.

Gage staggered into the kitchen and looked down at his partner, "Sydney?"'

She stared straight past him, taking deep, calming breaths, "He didn't see me."

Gage felt a dagger of pain go through him, Ramon? Could Ramon have spotted Sydney? Gage's breathing got shallow as he looked at his partner's eyes, they were dull brown, "What do you mean he didn't see you?"

Sydney just sat there, on the floor, her legs spread eagled in front of her, trying very hard to convince herself that Ramon had not seen her hiding behind the piece of fence. She focused on breathing, a trick her grandmother had taught her to do when she had a bad scrape and needed to pour alcohol on it, she knew she was being irrational, but she had felt his eyes on her back. Felt them.

Gage sat down in a kitchen chair, watching his partner with a worried expression. He himself was so relieved that she was here, back in the apartment, that he was having trouble being afraid of Ramon. He watched her closely, she was breathing slowly, seeming to concentrate her whole being into each breath. It was several minutes before her eyes became focused again, he had never seen anything like it. It was like she had been in a trance and then she just snapped out of it, and then she was standing, coming to his side and murmuring sweet things about how she was sorry, and that she needed him to get back to the couch, and all that.

He let her support him, and as they walked slowly toward the couch he asked again, "What do you mean he didn't see you?"

Sydney let out a breath of air slowly, hissing it through her teeth as she helped Gage settle into the couch, she looked him in the eyes and told him everything she saw. When she was finished, Gage stared at her, and then parroted her mantra back to her, confidently, "He didn't see you."

Sydney nodded, smiling grimly, "No, he didn't. If he had we'd be dead."

Gage's mouth became a thin line, "Now what do we do?"

Sydney shook her head, staring up into those wonderfully blue eyes that were so full of worry, "We wait for Walker to break in to our apartment."

Walker and Trivette followed the dark van at a distance, Walker was surprised to find out that one of his agents had copied the license plate down earlier that day, it was the same van that had picked Gage up from the jail. Walker had some guys running the VIN number and plates to see if they came up with any match. The van had turned off the highway a while ago and was heading up a long, dirt road. Trivette had the map out and concluded that there weren't any turns for at least twenty miles up that road, so if they stationed themselves at the exit they could wait no more than an hour for the van to come back. If it didn't they would need to follow the road.

Walker did not like waiting, but he knew that it was important for the black van to make it back to La Iglesia with all of the men alive. If Ramon had seen Sydney or thought he had seen her, and the van didn't return, well…Walker set his mouth into a grim line…

The truck returned to the highway in a half an hour, turning back down the road in the direction of La Iglesia. Walker waited until the van was out of sight, and then turned on his engine and raced up the road, both he and his partner looking intently for any signs of where the van might have dumped the woman. They drove for about fifteen minutes before they decided to get out of the van and start searching. It was getting darker out and Walker knew that they had very little time before the evening chill set in over the desert. Assuming, that was, that the woman was alive.

Trivette took the right side of the road, following a pattern of tracks that seemed to be fresher than all the others, he thought he heard a sound up ahead, the sound of sniffing, like coyotes, and he began to run towards it, jumping off the road and into the shallow ditch when he saw a pair of gleaming eyes flashing in the darkness.

They coyote did not want to give up its prize, but, as a man ran towards it, heedless of its warnings, the coward turned away from the body and ran. Trivette's shouts caught Walker's attention from where he was searching on the opposite side of the road, and he hurried down the road to aid his companion.

For a moment Walker was silent, thinking that if he had not heard Ranger Cooke's voice on the phone, he would have believed that this woman was her. Trivette was scooping her up off the ground, carefully supporting her head and the crook of her knees as he cradled her petite body against his chest. He looked into his partner's eyes and nodded, they had found her in time.

Walker quickly called for an ambulance and raced to get his truck, driving it up to the spot Trivette had found the woman and turning the heat on as Trivette laid the fragile woman onto the seat. They waited for the paramedics and handed the woman over, requesting to be notified with her condition.

One of the paramedics shook hands with Walker listening intently to his instructions, "I want this to be quiet. No one knows that she enters the hospital, okay? Put a guard outside her door, 24/7. But don't let anyone know why or who is in her room. You understand?"

The paramedic nodded, knowing that Walker was not the type of man whose orders should be disobeyed, and he jumped into the back of the bus, joining his colleagues in the effort to keep the woman alive.

Trivette turned to Walker, "Now what?"

Walker swung into his truck, waiting for his partner to do the same, and pealed out on the dirt road, driving like a demon back to the city, "Now? We do a little breaking and entering."


	9. Chapter 9: Breaking and Entering

_**Chapter nine is here… For those of you who have hung in here to learn a little more about the romantic past of our two favorite rangers…I think you'll love this chapter. I'm going to warn you though, one tiny sentence is rated M for mature. So if you don't think you can handle it…well, sorry. For those of you who are reading this because my plot is utterly amazing and you can't wait to see if that one lady lives and what happens with the investigation…stop lying to yourselves and just accept the fact that it's the sexual tension that's got you hooked.**_

_**Kidding! I hope you enjoy, and as always, reviews, even short simple, "I loved Gage's flashback" are greatly appreciated. Ckorkows**_

**The Rangers – **a series based upon WTR, with the focus on the two rangers who joined the force in the seventh season, Ranger Cooke and Ranger Gage. The characters are borrowed directly from the TV series, and some plot elements relate to certain episodes, but the main ideas are original to the author. I do not claim the characters.

**Book 1: El Leon – **What happened before they joined Walker's team?

**Chapter 9: Breaking and Entering**

Sydney looked down at her sleeping partner, a plastic bag clutched loosely in one hand. Gage was sleeping in an upright position, with his head tilted backwards onto the top of the couch. She thought that the position was probably the most comfortable for him at the moment, but it didn't really look all that comfortable. She had just run to the market to get some salve for his chest, unable to do anything else for the swelling and bruises that marred the strong, tan surface. Now, standing there, she was unsure of what to do. He really did look like he needed to get some rest, especially if he was going to have somebody poking his ribs later that night, but she really wanted to do something to soothe his pain.

Gage felt her eyes on him and slowly lifted his head, groaning as his tight muscles fought against the movement. Sydney's voice was that of a soothing mother hen, and she was instantly at his side, on her knees on the couch, one of her hands supporting his head as the other gently kneaded the muscles in his neck into submission.

He couldn't help it. He moaned.

Sydney smiled, the fingertips on her right hand tingling a bit as they pressed small circles into the back of her partner's neck, moving slowly and evenly up and down either side of his spine, "I think you need a massage big guy."

Gage nodded, opening his eyes ever so slightly, seeing the bag abandoned on the floor he asked, "Is that the salve?"

Sydney nodded, completely focused on the movement of her hands, "MmmHmmm….."

Gage was enjoying the slight warmth of her hands on his neck a little too much; his eyes were half-closed with pleasure as his partner expertly loosened his muscles. He could see her out of the corner of his eye, staring over his shoulder, one arm extended across his chest, the other one behind his head, both making wonderful movements across his flesh, leaving trails of heat where her fingertips had travelled. Reaching up with yet another groan, Gage grabbed her forearm.

Sydney stopped, "Gage?"

He sighed, thinking that he wanted his partner to continue, but he also hurt everywhere…there was only one solution, "Do you think you could put the salve on?"

Sydney nodded, and Gage relaxed his head onto the back of the couch once more, the cushion shifting beneath him as her comforting weight disappeared. Sydney had grabbed the salve from the bag and had expertly beaten the child-proof container, but now she was standing in front of her partner, the little container opened in one hand, trying to decide where to start first.

"Hey partner… you sure you don't want to sleep first?"

Gage nodded, barely, and waited for her hands to return to his body and soothe away the hurt. When they didn't immediately he opened one eye and stared at his partner, she was looking at him with her head tilted and her eyes narrowed, as though considering how best to start, he smiled, and mumbled to her as he closed his eyes, "Why don't you start where you left off?"

Sydney agreed and the couch shifted once more as she climbed on beside him. Gage relaxed completely, prepared to enjoy the feeling of her hands back on his skin. Sydney dug two fingers into the jar of salve, carefully scooping out what she deemed would be the necessary amount, and smeared it across the palm of her other hand. Rubbing her hands together, she silently laughed at the squelching sounds they made, feeling that those sounds were somehow very out of place at the moment.

She was wearing a dark-tank top and her usual at-home shorts, ready for bed but also waiting for Walker. As she stretched her right arm across Gage's chest she rested her left hand on his near shoulder, this action caused the other Ranger to stir, but not to open his eyes. She placed her right hand on the opposite shoulder, turning toward her partner's face a little, and leaned forward, rubbing his trapezoids with the palms of her hands this time, carefully trailing her hands up the back of his traps, all the way to the spine, and back down several times before she folded her hands over the tight muscles and gently squeezed them.

Her breath was hot on his face, and Gage half-opened his eyes to see that her breasts were hanging just inches in front of his face, feeling heat rising on his face, he quickly shut his eyes again as his partner shifted her weight, trying to get more comfortable.

Sydney's right arm was getting tired. Stretched out and pressing into her partner's muscles, it was tough to keep rubbing. She tried to move her knees sideways more, to give her a little relief, but the fact of the matter was that it was simply an uncomfortable position. Without thinking she did the only thing she could to rectify the matter.

After scooping up some more salve and rubbing it into her hands to warm it up, Sydney placed on hand on Gage's chest, swung a leg across his lap, and straddled her partner's knees. Satisfied, she continued her ministrations, carefully rubbing the salve into her partner's pecs, rubbing her palms up and down his chest in a way that was reminiscent of lovers. Blushing, Sydney checked to make sure that her partner's eyes were closed, mentally scolded herself, and continued on…trying to think about anything but the way her hands looked as they moved sensuously up and down the long, muscular length of her partner's naked chest.

Gage was not having as much luck as Sydney. Once he felt her weight shift on top of him he'd started sweating. Keeping his eyes closed, he bit back a moan of an entirely different type as his partner placed her hands back on his chest, and, as Sydney had, he thought of lovers. Only, he didn't scold himself for the thought, he let it ride for a few moments, the pleasure sensors in his brain overriding reason as he got caught up in a fantasy of his partner's naked breasts swinging seductively as she rode him, her hands planted firmly on his chest, nails biting ever so slightly, as she arched her back….

Gage's eyes flashed open and he grabbed his partner's wrists, "Stop!"

Sydney jerked backwards, her hands glued to her partner's chest by his own strength; her eyes were wide and innocent as she looked into the heated gaze of her partner. Shocked for a moment she couldn't speak, only stare at those eyes, eyes that almost seemed to be too intense.

Oh No! Suddenly she knew what she had done, "Oh Gage….did I hurt you? I'm so sorry, I was trying to be really careful….."

Gage sighed, releasing his partner's hands, he took her hips in his hands, mentally admiring the way his fingers curled around her back and his thumbs pushed up the material of her tank top a little as they molded to the curve of her hip bone. Painfully he lifted his partner off of him and sat her down beside him, answering her question with a partial lie, "Yeah….a little. But that's okay. It feels a lot better now, thanks."

Sydney looked down at the face of her partner, concern in her eyes, unaware that the real pain he was feeling was not from his bruises, "You sure? I can continue…"

Gage felt his entire body flush with heat, patting his partner's hand he shook his head, "No. That's okay, but if you wouldn't mind getting me the remote?"

Sydney nodded, the atmosphere in the room, which she hadn't noticed before, changed from charged to comfortable. She grabbed the remote from the recliner and sat back, carefully ignoring her partner's protests as she turned on the TV, "K, but we're watching the Murder, She Wrote marathon!"

Gage groaned, but let it be. He didn't have the energy to argue with his partner, besides, as the show came on, Gage let his mind wander back to a time when he actually had Cooke's hands on him in a very different way.

_They entered his apartment, their bodies locked together as their mouths sought one another. Gage took one hand off of her waist to close the door, to flip on the light, but Sydney's nails dug into his shirtfront, dragging him away from the wall. The tumbled to the floor of his tiny apartment, and he was instantly glad that he didn't have a stupid coffee table as they rolled across the carpet before coming to rest at the base of the couch. She was on top of him, tearing at the buttons on his shirt even as his fingers fought to raise her shirt over her head._

_She was beautiful. Her hair was down, he'd pulled out her pony tail at some point, and it was wavy around her face, wild because his hands had buried themselves in it several times over the course of the past ten minutes._

_When she finished unbuttoning his shirt she lifted her arms, sitting up on top of him, straddling his waist, and let him pull her own shirt off of her. God! He couldn't help thinking how beautiful she was, her flat stomach had the slight hint of a six-pack, and the flare of her hips was pure sex. She took her shirt from his hands and tossed it backwards, leaning forward so that her breasts swayed above his chest in the confines of her bra, her hair tickling his face as she leaned in for a kiss…_

_As Gage settled his hands on her waist, pulling her hips down to meet his in an intimate foreplay, things suddenly went horribly wrong._

Gage sucked in a breath of air and his eyes flashed open. The room was dark, Sydney must have turned off the lights, and the only light was coming from the flickering images of "Murder, She Wrote" on the TV screen. Gage's heart was beating at a million miles an hour as he tried to calm himself, looking around for Sydney and glad that the room was dark enough to hide the evidence of his erotic dream.

She was lying on the couch beside him, her feet curled up beneath her and her head resting on the arm of the couch. Her eyes were closed and, as the roaring of his blood settled in his ears, Gage could hear the peaceful rhythm of her breathing that assured him she was asleep. Shaking his head he began to mentally berate himself.

What was it? Yesterday, he had told Walker that there was nothing unprofessional going on between him and Cooke, and here he was not thirty hours past, thinking about his grandmother and inanimate objects to calm his raging hormones. Idiot, he mumbled, pursing his lips and wanting a glass of water, but knowing that he wouldn't make it to the kitchen and back without disturbing his partner. He looked at her again, her hair, she still wore it in a ponytail most of the time, but it had become a habit for her to wear it down because that's how Maria wore her hair, now it was spread, wild, across her arms and the arm of the chair, partially covering her face. A face that was almost angelic, Gage thought with a smile, remembering the time one of the boys had used a similar line to try and get her to date him. He'd found out that her fists were not as dainty as they looked, which had been another of his mistakes in 'wooing' Cooke.

Gage slowly ran a hand through his hair, slapping the back of his head the way his father used to when he was a kid and did something stupid. It was never a hard slap, just a, "You fucked up, don't do it again," type of thing.

Sydney stirred next to him, her body arching as she yawned, her eyes still closed, Gage decided to wake his partner, "Syd….you wanna go to bed?"

Sydney smiled, sighing a deep, satisfied sigh, whatever dream she'd been having, it had been good. "Yeah…" but suddenly she remembered that Walker was supposed to be coming, to help her injured partner, and she shot straight up on the couch, grabbing Gage's wrist to look at the time, "Oh Shit!"

…………………………………………..……………… ………………………………………………………….

Walker, Trivette and Tony, one of the guys from the EMT team that had helped get the woman from the desert to a hospital, were quietly creeping around the back of Sydney and Gage's apartment, all of them wearing black clothing, their face's hidden by ski-masks. Walker carried a black bag, full of emergency medical equipment, but looking like it was for stuff they stole. He mentally counted the number of windows they passed, remembering Archer telling him that each apartment had only one window, and that Sydney and Gage were holed up in the fifth apartment down.

Motioning for his accomplices to stop, Walker noticed a faint flickering coming from the window they were supposed to use to enter the apartment. He heard Trivette whisper, "Television," and Walker nodded. Standing up he checked out the bedroom, the blinds had been left up, and there was a bed right below the window. There was no one in the bed, meaning that they must be waiting up for him in the living room.

Walker went to work; the window itself was going to be quite simple to open, it being one of those tongue-in groove sort of sliding windows. After removing the screen, which was a simply procedure of pulling the tab, Walker used the gripping pads on his glove to tug at the window a little, easily sliding it the couple of centimeters he needed to in order to get his fingers inside. He slid the window the rest of the way open, set his hands on the small sill, and hoisted himself up and through in less than five seconds. Trivette passed the black bag through and helped the EMT, who was not quite strong enough to lift himself through the window. Trivette followed and quickly closed the window behind him, dropping the blinds for privacy as he followed his fellow law-breakers into the living room.

Sydney had read the numbers on Gage's watch at the exact same moment she heard the window creak open in their bedroom. Hurriedly she had left her companion's side, rushing to the kitchen to get some more of the evidence they had collected, and the reports they had written, to give to Walker directly. She might as well kill two birds with one stone. While in the kitchen she grabbed a bottle of water, in case Gage was thirsty.

By the time she turned around she saw three men, dressed from head to toe in black, burst through her bedroom door, holding in a scream, she recognized the dark skin and amber eyes of the man who had gone to the bar that one time, and she released her breath and crossed the distance to the men almost without hesitation.

Extending her hand to the man with ice-blue eyes, Sydney kept her voice passive, "Gentlemen."

Walker removed his gloves and ski-mask, taking the small hand and engulfing it with his own for a brief second, "Ranger Cooke. How's Gage doing?"

Sydney shrugged, "Chavez knocked him around, he's got a helluva bruise on his face, and several broken or cracked ribs. He's gonna live, but he's gonna be sore," She was about to turn and greet Trivette when she remembered the woman she'd seen, she put a hand on Walker's arm, staring him straight in the eye, "Did you find her?"

Walker nodded but turned away, greeting Gage calmly, "Ranger Gage. Sorry about the bruises…"

Gage was sitting on the couch with the EMT, he'd introduced himself at Ron, carefully felt around his chest, sucking in a sharp breath whenever the man's not-so-gentle fingers put pressure on a broken rib, Gage managed to nod at Walker, giving him a grin, "Yeah, well…just don't arrest me again for a while."

Walker smiled, Trivette was talking to Sydney, discussing her theory on the garbage trucks, turning to Walker he couldn't help but hide his big, goofy, trademark smile, "Walker, I think I remember seeing that El Leon owns a garbage company on the outskirts of town. Do you think we have enough intel to take it down? That could be the center of his organization.

Sydney looked eagerly at the face of her new superior, but, reading his face, she shook her head, trying not to feel too let down about continuing undercover, "No. We're in until we get invited there, huh?"

Walker read the excitement, and the loss of it, in her face, "We can't afford to give his lawyers any argument. But, we can work on pressing Ramon to get you further into the organization…"

Sydney nodded, her eyes straying back to Gage then sweeping over to the young man attending him, "How is he?"

Ron looked up at the beautiful woman, in awe of her because of her job, "He's…he's gonna be fine Ranger. You were right, he has some bruised and broken ribs, but nothing that won't heal over time."

Sydney nodded, Gage, on the other hand, started to feel a little panic rising up inside of him, grabbing the young man's chin, he looked him straight in the eye, "How long?"

Ron was shaking as he answered, "Just…just a month or two. Six weeks maybe."

At that point Trivette's voice carried over to them from the kitchen where he and Walker had been talking, "…take him out of it…dumps him"

Gage pushed himself to his feet, his entire body crying out against the sudden movement. Ignoring the pain Gage walked straight over to Walker, "I'm not being replaced."

Walker looked at the young Ranger, his mouth set in a firm line, "You're really no good in your condition, and what if the bust goes down this month? Then where will you be…Ranger Cooke needs a partner who can back her up when it comes time to take down El Leon. I'm sorry Ranger Gage…"

Sydney, who had been standing in the background until now, surged forward, putting a pacifying hand on her partner's arm, she looked Ranger Walker straight in the eye, her face as deadly serious as his, "I refuse to work this investigation without Gage." She let her words sink in a moment, practically reading the older Rangers' thoughts, "You think I'm being flighty, clingy. Some woman Ranger, she gets one good partner, and refuses to give any other partner a try. But think about it Ranger Walker. Ramon has hurt my boyfriend. He's meeting with me next week for a new batch of drugs, I can persuade him to let me take more. What was it RJ said to you Gage? Right before he let me into his office…"

Gage furrowed his brow, thinking back to that day…

_RJ stood, moving around his desk to face the young ranger, "Here's the thing Gage, we don't want to put another person in danger anymore than we have to. Carlos was sent back in a body bag so small, it once housed a bottle of Crown Royal. But we have to break Leon's organization. From what our Intel has discovered, Leon enjoys a certain type of person in his top circle."_

_Gage shrugged, "Mute?"_

_RJ's smile didn't quite make his eyes, there was a knock at the door and he opened it, "No. Female."_

Smiling, Gage looked at his partner, damn she was good, "He told me that El Leon prefers to surround himself with women…" then Gage thought about the woman he'd seen in the room, and something clicked, "And, if that woman survived and you ever get to talk to her, I bet you'll find out the same thing about Ramon. He prefers women counterparts in his business deals."

Sydney saw Walker's mouth open, his decision made, and quickly interjected, "If Gage were to be taken out now…just listen…I'd be forced to get another 'boyfriend', right after Ramon took care of my old one. So Gage can't be out there when the hand off is made, it took us four months just to get to this point in the organization, and we're still just mules for the money, do you really think that Ramon is going to accept some new boyfriend of mine into this? Do you really think we're going to nail El Leon in the next month?"

Walker opened his mouth to speak again, but Gage interrupted, staring him down fiercly, "Besides Walker, you told me yesterday that when the deal did go down, you'd be there. If it went down tomorrow, you'd be there for Sydney."

Trivette sat back, rather enjoying the fact that the two young Rangers worked so well together they could change Walker's mind. He watched it in his partner's face, the determination, the consideration, the acceptance, and then…

Walker sighed, "I don't like it. But you're right. Gage, congratulations, you now hold the best undercover job ever."

Gage grinned, feeling Sydney's hand squeeze his arm, "Yeah?"

Walker's smile turned slightly evil, "Yeah…you get to be the one sitting at home writing up all the reports."

Sydney couldn't help it, as her partner's face fell, literally fell, she burst out laughing, giving him a light hug, "Oh Gage!"

Trivette and Ron joined in, and finally Gage managed to let loose a few chuckles, although the pain in his ribs quickly ended his laughter, mumbling, he turned back to the living room, "Oh joy."

Ten minutes later Walker, Trivette and Rob climbed back out the darkened window and slipped away down an alley. Sydney dropped the blinds on them and helped her injured partner climb into bed before heading to the couch where she had decided to sleep. There was no use crowding her partner in their tiny bed when she fit just fine on the couch. Both Rangers fell asleep within minutes of Walker's departure, exhausted from the excitement of the day. As Sydney's eyes closed she saw Walker's eyes, eyes that were telling her that the woman who had been beaten was alive.


	10. Chapter 10: One on One

_**Chapter Ten: Prepare to see my evil side (in tiny taster form)…and remember, let me know what you think… Chapter eleven is on its way, but I may make you suffer… (Insert evil laugh here.)**_

**The Rangers – **a series based upon WTR, with the focus on the two rangers who joined the force in the seventh season, Ranger Cooke and Ranger Gage. The characters are borrowed directly from the TV series, and some plot elements relate to certain episodes, but the main ideas are original to the author. I do not claim the characters.

**Book 1: El Leon – **What happened before they joined Walker's team?

**Chapter 10: One on One**

Sydney strolled into La Iglesia two minutes before the time she had been told to arrive. It was daytime and the bar was empty, light filtered in through the various windows and doors, making the nightclub look almost surreal. Walking past the catwalk, Sydney headed straight for the back door.

The investigation was finishing its fourth month, and Ramon had Sydney and Gage splashing in the kiddy pool. Gage was still on the mend, and Ramon had even decided that he could be allowed to assist Maria with the sales again, but he'd kept the flow minimal. Sydney was getting restless, and she knew that if they didn't get deeper soon, they never would. In her mind, it was time to give the boss a little push.

Ramon was puffing on a cigar, leaning back in his seat with both feet on his desk, when Sydney walked in. The glass of bourbon he was holding almost slipped out of his hands when he saw the determined look in the woman's eyes. Standing quickly he made a sweeping motion with his cigar, indicating the chair, "Maria… you're early. Sit."

Sydney ignored his commands, instead circumventing the desk entirely and leaning in close to Ramon, her dark eyes flickering, "No senor. You been stringing me along like dis for how many weeks now? Maria, sit down, Maria, sell this, Maria, where my money. I'm sick of it Ramon."

Ramon's nostrils flared and he broke in, "Maria, you don't talk to me like that."

Sydney pushed him, making sure that he sat back down in his chair, and leaned forward, her face level with his, brown eyes staring into black ones. She spoke in a flat, even tone that was very unlike Maria, though she carefully lilted her words with Spanish pronunciation, "You heard me Ramon. You take Alex out of the picture for two months with some stupid 'lesson', have me deliver, what… one package a week… and say you trust me. Trust is two ways Ramon. And I want more. I have seen enough to know you got a lot more to sell than just one package a week and I want in. I got buyers Ramon, just waiting for me to have product. Buyers with deep pockets..."

Ramon's glass clattered to the floor and his hand was instantly around Sydney's neck, dragging her face even closer to him. He felt her nails bite into his shirt, but noted, with a hint of respect, that although she was choking, she kept her angry eyes on his own. Squeezing tighter, he waited to speak until her eyes began to lose focus, "You know Maria, trust isn't everything…"

Sydney's last thought was on the partner she had left behind, napping on the couch, and how stupid her risk might have been.

…………………………………………..……………… ………………………………………………………….

Trivette followed his partner up the steps of the hospital, having to walk double time just to keep up with the long, determined strides of the man in front of him, "Walker… how do you know that it's her?"

Walker slowed down as they neared the elevators, removing his hat as the metal doors dinged open, "He sent pictures out. Dan picked them up when he was doing a scan of all of El Leon's known emails. It seems that he was sending out a warning to all of his associates to dispose of her as soon as they saw her. Somehow, he figured out that she was undercover."

"Why didn't Dan get those pictures sooner? We've been into El Leon's emails for over a month now."

Walker shrugged, "I don't know Trivette…"

Trivette gulped, "Do you think…"

Walker shook his head, striding out the doors of the elevator and down a narrow hallway to where a solitary figure stood outside a door. Trivette followed him quickly, his eyebrows drawn together as Walker shook hands with Ranger Archer.

Trivette offered his own hand and looked into the eyes of his colleague, "How's she doing'?"

Archer shrugged, his face tired, his eyes bloodshot, "They don't know really. They did some pretty bad damage to her, seems to me that she shouldn't have made it out alive…"

Trivette patted the man's shoulder, nodding sympathetically as he followed Walker into the hospital room. Five minutes later the two men returned with grim expressions. As Trivette carefully shut the door behind him, Walker placed a hand on a very dejected Archer, "Go home now, we'll stay here until the next guard shows up."

Archer nodded, reaching into his pocket to dig out his keys, but Trivette stopped him, pulling out his cell instead, "Tell you what, why don't you call a cab. I'll bring you back tomorrow to get your car. Go get some rest buddy…"

Archer nodded, accepting whatever was being given to him, he looked up into Ranger Walker's clear blue eyes, his own eyes shimmering with tears, "I'm sorry, I should have known…I saw her there…but I didn't do anything. It never crossed my mind that…"

Trivette grabbed Archer's arm and directed him to the elevators, deciding to go down with him and make sure he got the cab okay, "There's nothing you could have done buddy… no one knew she was going to be there."

Archer's sorrowful mumbling could be heard as the elevator doors closed, "But… I should have recognized her… she shouldn't have been there…it was all wrong. Why didn't we know about this?"

Walker sat down on the narrow bench outside of the hospital room, his hat clasped in his hands as he leaned his head back against the wall. He took deep breaths and settled back to wait the next guard. After that, Walker knew that he was going to have to call her family…and worse, tell her partner.


	11. Chapter 11: Garbage

_**Chapter Eleven is up now. Thank you all for waiting a whole day and a half for the continuation of this story. I've also started a side-story for the Rangers books (as I am calling them) and I hope you'll check it out on my page. Get ready to get some answers, and as always, please review and critique…I live for critiques, especially harsh ones sandwiched between nice things. Enjoy the Ride, Ckorkows.**_

**The Rangers – **a series based upon WTR, with the focus on the two rangers who joined the force in the seventh season, Ranger Cooke and Ranger Gage. The characters are borrowed directly from the TV series, and some plot elements relate to certain episodes, but the main ideas are original to the author. I do not claim the characters.

**Book 1: El Leon – **What happened before they joined Walker's team?

**Chapter 11: Garbage**

Gage went to the bar across the street from their apartment, Sydney was running late from her meeting with Ramon, but Gage wasn't too worried. Right now, he was running late for his meeting with Ranger Archer. He practically jogged across the street, glad to be out of the stuffy little apartment for once. He went straight to their booth and ordered a beer, a little shocked that Archer wasn't there already. He sipped on his cold one, watching the men and women who were dining on the greasy burgers and cheese-loaded nachos. Leaning back in the booth he let his mind wander for a moment.

Sydney had been so great to him after Ramon taught him his lesson. She'd stayed in the apartment with him, rubbing the stiffness out of his muscles and slowly getting him to start sparring again. He was almost feeling a hundred percent now; he actually managed to cradle his partner the night before, and was pretty proud that he hadn't even pulled on her ponytail in order to do it…well, at least not that much. A smile played across his lips as he remembered the argument they'd had after the fight. Something about a bad cradle or something…she'd used the argument to get him to pay her back for all the backrubs, a bad idea on her part. Because once Gage had his hands on her back, he never wanted to take them off. The only bad part about it was that she kept her shirt on.

Archer walked into the bar looking like he'd already been at a few that day. He sought out the booth and collapsed into it, ordering a beer and nachos. Gage snapped out of his reverie, his mouth dropping open at the sight of the other Ranger.

Using his undercover name, Gage greeted him, "Ringo man, you look like shit."

Archer looked up at Gage, his eyes really were sunk into his head, "Yeah man. Tough week. You know that one chick?"

Gage nodded, the woman whose half-dead body was discovered in the desert by Walker and Trivette, "Yeah. I thought she was taking a break but getting better."

Archer looked around, seeing that no one was near them, he leaned forward over his nachos, "Man, she's my ex-partner from my days with FBI. They didn't want her cover blown so they didn't tell us about her. I just saw her yesterday…it was bad man, she's still banged up. Out of the coma though."

Gage's heart clenched, he couldn't imagine walking into a room and seeing Sydney like that. The thought alone made him check his watch and groan…where was she…but he saw his buddy's eyes filling up with tears, and switched back into Alex, "Man, stop mopin' around. Just some chick dude. Just some chick. At least she's away from him and on the mend. Fool," he smiled at the use of the term, he'd picked it up because it was Maria's favorite word, "suck it up, I don't want to share wet nachos."

Archer laughed a little, it didn't have a lot of feeling behind it, but it was a laugh, he hoarded the nachos, "What makes you think I'm gonna share?"

Gage snorted, pushing the man away from the food, "You don't have a choice Ringo, you've gotten weak over some chick."

Their conversation turned to drugs, as was inevitable, and then they discussed things like the game and who was getting picked in the draft. Eventually though, Archer had to head out, check in with Walker and RJ to let them know about the next meeting. Gage said that he thought they'd have more product by then, but he didn't know for sure.

As Gage walked back across the street to his apartment he was beginning to get a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Rushing across the street and into the halls, he forgot to inhale before entering the building and got a nose-full of urine smell. Undeterred he continued down the hall until he came to his apartment. He knocked, but there was no answer.

When he entered Sydney wasn't back. He thought about the lost, angry, and dejected look on Archer's face, and couldn't help but feel those same emotions take hold on him. She should have been back hours ago!

…………………………………………..……………… ………………………………………………………….

Walker knocked on the door of the decrepit apartment, his blue eyes serious as a man's voice called from the other side of the door, "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah! Give me one damned minute."

Trivette raised a brow at his partner as the man continued to curse to himself, apparently unaware that the walls and door were thin enough for his voice to be heard on the other side. Walker shook his head no, and looked forward as the door opened a couple of inches.

"What d'ya want?"

Walker smelled it, the overwhelming stench of alcohol and vomit, "Mr….Tim Jones, Texas Rangers, we need to talk to you about some things."

The man slammed the door, cursing even louder, but they heard the distinctive sound of metal sliding across metal and just as quickly the door was thrown wide to them. The man had his back turned away; he was walking toward a couch and table where a bottle of Jack and a shot glass sat. At least the man had the sense to use the glass still…

Walker followed the man to the couch, taking in the week's worth of dishes and crumpled food boxes and empty beer and booze bottles strewn about. There was a pile of shattered glass by the kitchen, and Walker had a pretty good feeling that a bottle had not just been 'dropped' there. This was going to be fun.

"Mr. Jones, we understand that you may know a woman who we found. Right now she's a Jane Doe, but we've heard from several sources that she was last seen with you, would you mind coming to identify her?"

The man looked up at walker with blood-shot eyes, his lip trembled and he stood, shaky, "Is….is she alive?"

Walker nodded, "You'll identify her then?"

The man nodded, the motion obviously making him nauseous as he ran toward the kitchen sink making retching noises. When he recovered he seemed to brighten a little, and he took several deep breaths to steady himself before turning back to the Rangers, his shoulders squared, "Alright Rangers. Take me in."

They made a sight entering the hospital - two Rangers practically carrying a man, who smelled like he'd been on a binge for a week or two too long, through the big double doors and straight back to the elevator where they leaned him against the wall while they waited. He'd almost passed out on the way to the hospital and, as the doors to the elevator slid open, he slid down the wall giving Trivette no other option but to grab him under the armpits and drag him into the elevator. He shot Walker a skeptical look over the man's head.

Walker just shrugged, "We'll get him a banana bag while we wait to talk to her. That should put some bounce in his step."

Trivette nodded, the doors dinged open and he dragged the man out of them, down the hall to the guarded room. Walker dismissed the guard quickly, saying that they probably needed a half-hour and he could go grab coffee.

The man was shaking again, he looked terrified, and he grabbed Trivette's arm as they entered the room, immediately he nodded, "Yes. Yes. It's Marta. Oh Marta!"

Trivette shot a quizzical glance over the man's head, Marta was the name Gage and Sydney had reported Ramon using for the woman, surely that was a cover name. The man had dragged himself over to her bedside and was weeping, crying over and over again, "Oh Marta! Why did you do it, why did you push him? We were doing so good…"

Walker grabbed the man's chin, forcing him to look into those intense blue eyes, "Tim, we need you to focus. What is Marta's real name? We know that she was undercover with one of El Leon's known associates, but we need to know who she is. Really. Okay Tim?"

The man nodded, "She's Marta… Marta Thompson of the FBI."

Walker shook his head. He used the call button for the nurse that was located on the woman's bed. They waited quietly for the nurse to arrive, the only sounds the beeps and buzzes of equipment and the heaving sobs of the man who was collapsed at the side of the woman's bed. The nurse arrived and looked at the man skeptically…preparing to toss him out.

Walker interjected, "Could we get a banana bag for this man please? I think he needs to sober up a little before we get a good ID on Jane Doe here."

Trivette looked at Walker over the man's head. He was hiding something alright, Walker's instincts had, like always, been dead on. Ranger Archer had already identified the woman as Julianne Santiago of the FBI, they had been former partners and it had completely shocked everyone involved in the El Leon investigation to find out that the FBI had agents out in the field. Walker suspected that someone had convinced them not to share those details…but since Walker knew that El Leon had somehow discovered that Maria was an undercover cop, he was determined to find the rat before Sydney and Gage's cover was blown.

…………………………………………..……………… ………………………………………………………….

Sydney felt fuzzy. Her head hurt and her throat was sore. But, she realized, she was alive…and smelling…garbage? Slowly opening her eyes she surveyed her surroundings, she was in a building that housed garbage trucks, she could see two of them just to her right, that must be where the smell was coming from, she thought. Suddenly she heard voices, deep and masculine coming from her left. She turned her head that way and assessed her situation. She was in a warehouse, lying down on some sort of table, she wasn't restrained and that came as a shocker to her, but the warehouse was open enough that if she ran she'd be a quick and easy target.

Slowly she sat up, shaking the last vestiges of fog from her mind, and rubbed a hand on her neck where she was fairly certain a large bruise was taking shape.

"Sorry about that darling…"

Sydney's eyes flashed as she looked to her left. Ramon was sitting in a leather arm chair smoking a cigar and drinking his beloved bourbon as though they had never left the office. Sydney noticed that they were alone but there were voices coming from the office behind Ramon. Suddenly she realized where she must be…El Leon's base of operations.

She sharpened her gaze and curled her lip, "Ramon…what you do wit me eh? You gonna kill me?"

Ramon smiled coldly, getting up and walking over to the table Sydney was now sitting on. He licked his lips as he touched the cold glass to Sydney's neck, she jerked away but he pressed his cigar end into her neck, "Don't move."

Sydney did as he asked, allowing him to rub the glass against her bruise, though she didn't keep her mouth shut, "You didn't answer me Ramon. Donde estamos?"

A man's voice, plain as any other man's voice, came from behind her, "Fiery…I like that in a woman," he waited for Sydney to turn and look at him before he continued, "Maria…welcome to the Dallas/Fort Worth Blount's Garbage Company and Trash Collection Service. I, senorita, am El Leon."

Sydney opened her mouth to speak, but Ramon covered it with a hand, "Shhh…. escucha."

El Leon continued, he was short, shorter than Ramon for sure, and less poised, in fact…as he spoke, Sydney couldn't help but wonder how a man like him was higher on the food chain than a man like Ramon, "Senorita, I apologize for the…unusual circumstances of your delivery here today. We don't like to take chances in this business…as I'm sure you understand."

Ramon removed his hand from her mouth whispering into her ear, "Agree with him if you want to live."

She nodded, "Si, senor. Though a blindfold wouldn't have left a bruise."

Leon smiled, and suddenly Sydney understood why he was the boss. He quickly crossed the distance between the two of them, his eyes glinting with pure evil malice as he reached out two fingers and rubbed the darkening lines across her throat, "The bruise is what makes you beautiful my dear. It marks you for us."

She withheld the urge to give in to instinct and pull away from his touch, barely, and set her jaw as he continued to caress her flesh. When he'd had his fill he turned away and resumed his lecture, "You see my dear, what we run here is very delicate. And I am very choosy about who I let come here…and even choosier about who I let leave alive," he paused for effect, and continued on when he didn't see any sign of fear, "Fortunately for you, Senor Ramon tells me good things about your loyalty…even your novio, su nombre es…"

"Alex," Sydney spoke up, her voice strong even as her insides were shaking with a mixture of excitement and fear.

El Leon nodded, "Yes. Alex. I hear he handles himself fairly well… and how is he doing since Ramon taught him his lesson?"

Sydney smiled genuinely at that, "Stir Crazy."

El Leon laughed, looking past her at Ramon, "You didn't lie. She really is a…treasure. Take her home Ramon, and boost her compensation. Congratulations Maria, you're going to become a very rich woman!"

Sydney's mouth dropped open, she turned to Ramon as if to ask, 'that's it?' but he simply shook his head and offered her his hand, "Come Maria…it is time we finished the discussion we had earlier."

She couldn't help it…it just sort of slipped out, "Just so long as this time it doesn't end the same way."

Ramon smiled, "No senorita. Lo siento. Come. Your Alex must be worried."

Sydney's heart sank at that thought. Gage! Oh god, she thought, Gage must be worried sick over me. He might have already called Walker…

She shook her head, giving Ramon a reassuring smile as she placed her hand in his, "No Senor, I believe he never misses me."

Ramon brought her hand to his lips as he escorted her to a large black van, "Oh, such a shame, you're wasting your life on him Maria."

She shrugged as he opened the door for her, "Eh…chu know my answer senor."

He chuckled lightly as he followed her into the van, "Yes…that love thing."

The door slammed shut and the driver sped out of the warehouse, El Leon watching from the window in his office as he dialed the phone. The number went straight to messages: "_Hey, It's Tim. Leave your name and number…"_

Leon smiled cruelly, puffing on a cigar, "Agent Tim…I need you to do another one of your fabulous background checks…on a Maria Torres. She's working for Ramon. Oh…and check up on her boyfriend, Alexander Bates. I'd hate for another rodent to weasel its way in…remember what happened to your dear, sweet Julianne. You have until tomorrow!"


	12. Chapter 12: The Rat

_**Chapter twelve…will answer a few of your questions. It seems that the chapters are shorter in the second half…sorry about that, but there is less detail and more action in this half of the book. So I hope you don't mind. As always, feed my writing with your reviews, critiques, and all too kind comments. And most of all: Enjoy the Ride, Ckorkows.**_

**The Rangers – **a series based upon WTR, with the focus on the two rangers who joined the force in the seventh season, Ranger Cooke and Ranger Gage. The characters are borrowed directly from the TV series, and some plot elements relate to certain episodes, but the main ideas are original to the author. I do not claim the characters.

**Book 1: El Leon – **What happened before they joined Walker's team?

**Chapter 12: The Rat**

Walker's phone rang while they were waiting for the banana bag to take effect. Excusing himself he sent Trivette a look, _watch him_, and exited the door.

"Walker."

The man on the other line had a thin, wiry voice that Walker instantly recognized as belonging to FBI agent Marcus Antony, "Hey Walker, have you picked Tim up yet?"

Walker nodded, "Yeah Marcus, why?"

The man on the other side of the line ran a hand through his thinning hair, taking a deep breath to calm himself, "Well…we've been monitoring his phone calls, and I've got a guy taking his voice messages. He just got a call from El Leon…"

Walker turned around, facing the room where he'd left Tim, Julianne, and Trivette, he began taking long strides toward the room as Marcus continued in rapid-fire speech, "El Leon is using him, he's the rat Walker…he's the…"

Walker dropped his phone, kicked through the now closed door to the hospital room. Trivette was on the floor, blood running down over his eye from a gash across his forehead. Tim was standing over Julianne, no more a meek drunk, he'd ripped the IV from his arm and had it poised in the air, ready to stab when Walker burst in.

Tim turned, smiling evilly, "So…Marcus has been monitoring my calls. I should have known."

He held the IV like a knife, setting up a good fighter's base as he stood between Walker and the woman in the bed. Walker watched him carefully, "Put it down Tim, you don't have to do this."

Tim's eyes were wild, crazy even, and he slashed the air with the needle, daring Walker to get in close, "Oh…you are so very wrong about that Walker. I do, ever since El Leon found out that I had lied to him about Julianne…let's just say my life has not been a bed of luxury," the man continued to rant, his eyes clouding over, "He made me suffer, punished me with Julianne…then, then she didn't go. 'We're too close' she said, she didn't believe me when I told her to run or she'd die. She pushed him Walker, pushed him until he had no choice but to kill her," a crazed smile took over Tim's face, "But…he doesn't know she lived. And now, now he'll find out that I killed her. For him, I killed her... and the Texas Ranger who brought her in!"

He lunged forward, intent on stabbing the IV into his victim, but Walker sidestepped him, the man was much slower because of his drinking, and Walker whacked him on the back with his forearm as he passed. Tim stumbled forward, out into the hall.

Walker followed him, kicking out with his booted foot to connect with the soft flesh of the FBI agent's stomach. Nurses screamed, somebody pressed the panic button to dial the police, and Tim bent over, the air knocked out of him.

Walker grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, surprised when Tim stood up abruptly and dragged the needle down into where Walker's face had been seconds before. It caught him on the cheek, drawing a line of blood down the length of his face. Walker grabbed Tim's arm, twisting it sharply until the man dropped the IV. Pushing the other man away, Walker wiped his face, putting his hands up in defensive position, he waited for Tim to charge again.

The man didn't hesitate, charging forward he sent a barrage of punches at Walker, each one was blocked successfully and Walker sent an uppercut straight into Tim's jaw. The man staggered backwards, stunned, and Walker let his anger out in a spectacular roundhouse kick that dropped the man like a stone.

Readjusting his hat, he grabbed the man by his shirt collar and hauled him to his feet, slamming him against the wall, "You have five seconds to answer one very simple question. Did you tell Leon about the undercover Rangers?"

Tim's eyes registered surprise, and Walker shook him, "Tell me!"

Shaking his head Tim spat at Walker, "No…no. God, I didn't even know you had guys in there."

Walker let relief flood through his body as he punched the man in the stomach. Two officers were running down the hall towards them and Walker tossed the rat toward them, "Take care of this one. Make sure to Call Marcus Antony and tell him that we've got his rat. The FBI can handle their own.

Trivette was just coming to as Walker re-entered the hospital room. Offering his partner his hand, Walker let a heavy breath out, "They don't know about Sydney and Gage."

Trivette stood and brushed some blood out of his eyes, wincing as he did so, "Geez, what'd he hit me with?"

Walker smiled, "A bed pan."

Trivette grimaced, "What next?"

Walker looked at the woman who was lying, still asleep, in the bed, "Now we find out what El Leon wanted from Tim. And give it to him."

…………………………………………..……………… ………………………………………………………….

Gage was pacing the floor, working himself up as the minutes turned to hours and his partner didn't return. She'd been gone since around 10 in the morning, and it was getting on to about 3 in the afternoon. He couldn't help the panic that rose like bile within him as he thought about the vicious way Ramon had beaten the other woman. And the thought of his partner out there, alone, without backup, had his hands clenching into fists as he ground his teeth together.

He knew he should call Walker. The cell phone seemed to call out to him from its hiding place, trying to get him to do what he was supposed to. But he couldn't help it. Calling Walker meant giving up on Sydney, which meant that she was…

A knock at the door snapped through his state of panic, and Gage turned to face it, "Yeah?"

Sydney stood on the other side of the door, hands shaking as she looked down at the duffel bag she'd dropped by the door, "Alex. Fool, let me in."

Gage felt relief rush through his body, cooling his blood as he practically ran to the door and threw it open, remembering at the last moment who he was supposed to be, "Maria! Where you been?"

Sydney motioned to the bag and walked straight past her partner, into the apartment and to the couch, where she proceeded to flop down. Gage grabbed the duffel bag, dragging it inside and slamming the door on the world. He looked at his partner and then at the bag, his mouth dropping open, "What did you do?"

Sydney smiled, letting out half of a laugh she put a hand in the air, palm out toward Gage, "Wait. Go get me some aloe first. Then I'll tell you all about it."

Gage's eyes went to his partner's other hand, which was resting on a wicked red burn mark…he followed her fingers as they trailed from the mark across a deep blue bruise shaped like a hand, clenching his jaw he nodded silently and headed to the bathroom. He was going to kill Ramon, and anyone else who had touched her. Kill them.

Sydney looked at the duffel bag, she couldn't believe that her ploy had worked. As soon as Ramon's hand had closed around her throat she had been sure that it was over, she'd pushed too hard, too soon, and she was going to leave behind her partner and her superiors, wondering what she did to force Ramon's hand. Then she'd woken up in that garbage collection warehouse and had known that her fate was in El Leon's hands.

Gage returned and sat down at her head, cradling it in his lap as he pulled her hand away from her neck, globbing some aloe on his hand, he tried to force a smile, failed, and simply scowled, "What happened."

Sydney winced as the soothing aloe touched the burn mark, "Ramon burned me with his cigar."

Gage's hand was shaking with barely controlled rage; he tried to rub the aloe into his partner's skin gently, "No. You've been gone for five hours. What the hell happened?"

Sydney looked up into the tan face of her partner, she could feel the fury throbbing just under the surface of his touch, fury at her…or fury at Ramon…she didn't know, she tried to put her hand on his but found it pulled away by his other hand, "Gage…"

Gage stared at her, making it clear that he wanted an explanation, so she continued, deciding it would be easier to give him what he wanted instead of arguing, "I went to Ramon's today, for the usual pick up, but I decided that I was going to push him. I told him that I wanted more; I knew he had more than one package a week to sell and that I wanted in. The next thing I know he was choking me, and I thought it was all over…" she choked on some tears, carefully pulling the fear back inside of her, she waited until she was composed, "I woke up in a warehouse, the Garbage collection agency, remember how I told you about the drugs being tossed into the dumpster? Well, now I'm almost positive that they're using the trash company to transport them. Anyway, Ramon was there when I woke up. And El Leon…" she tried to sit up, excitement running through her, but Gage had a restraining hand on her shoulder, "Oh Gage! We're in. We're really in. El Leon, he told me that Ramon thought very highly of both of us, and that was it. He told Ramon to compensate me and Ramon and I headed back to La Iglesia to work out the details. We're in!"

Gage looked down at the small hands that had grabbed a hold of his hand even as it restrained his partner. Her eyes were bright, eager and excited as they searched his face. He relaxed a little, brushing a stray lock of hair away from his partner's brow, "Is that what the duffel bag is all about?"

Sydney nodded, "We're now the primary drug-runners for Ramon's portion of the El Leon organization. And, Ramon hinted that if we do some great deals, get him some good money, we may be heading straight to the top!"

Gage couldn't help it. He still wanted to kill Ramon for the ugly bruise that marred his partner's beautiful skin, but, "Primary drug-runners! Wow, Syd..."

Not for the first time in their short partnership, Gage admired his partner's intuition. Even though she hadn't consulted with him or Walker first, they wouldn't have agreed to her taking such a chance, she had taken a gamble that had paid off in the greatest way possible. They were in, if they continued to play their cards right they could definitely bag El Leon!

Without thinking he leaned forward, bending over the head in his lap, and planted his lips onto hers.

The shock that coursed through his body was instantaneous and unexpected. He felt his partner stiffen, her whole body going rigid beneath him before softening as she began to respond to his kiss, moving her head a little to get a better angle. Gage's hands curved around her body, the one that had been resting on her neck rubbing down over her shoulder, toward her breasts as she arched into it, the other hand found her waist, and grabbed a hold of her hip bone before running lightly back up the sweet curve of her side.

Sydney sighed, her hands running up the hard muscles of Gage's arms as he deepened the kiss. She arched as his fingers played with the top part of her tank top, running across her chest, just under the material, all the way across from the curve of one breast to the other. She lightly nibbled his bottom lip as his other hand ran up her side, his fingers brushing over her curves so lightly it was almost ticklish. Her hands found his shoulders and she pulled him closer, deeper, lost for a moment in the pleasure of Gage's mouth on her own.

_She took her shirt from his hands and tossed it backwards, leaning forward so that her breasts swayed above his chest in the confines of her bra, her hair tickling his face as she leaned in for a kiss…_

_As Gage settled his hands on her waist, pulling her hips down to meet his in an intimate foreplay, things suddenly went horribly wrong._

_A tall blonde woman, dressed only in short-shorts and a sports bra, walked into the living room. Her hair was short and sandy and she shrieked when she saw them, "Francis Gage!"_

_Gage felt the change immediately, Sydney went from sensual to cold in less than ten seconds, pushing her fists into his chest she quickly stood up, "What the hell? Oh God!"_

_She grabbed her shirt and slipped it over her head as Gage stood up, pleading with her, "Oh. No, Julie! What are you doing here?"_

_Sydney snarled at him, "Julie? You told me you weren't seeing anyone. Damn. I knew I shouldn't have trusted you…"_

_Gage scrambled after her, " No, Cooke…Syd, it isn't like that. She's my sister Syd, she's just in town for…"_

_Sydney sent him a look that seared straight through him, "Sister? Yeah right. You would have told me if you had a sister," her eyes held hurt and anger in them, a mixture that tugged at Gage's heart, "Goodbye Gage."_

_She slammed the door behind her, and Gage raced to open the door and chase after her, but by the time he got to the hall he heard the elevator doors ding closed. Sliding to the floor he let his head bang, hard, against the wall. She would never forgive him._

Sydney suddenly stiffened, her hands moving to his chest and pushing him up and off of her. Gage looked at her as she scrambled away from him, "Wha…"

Sydney stood up, distancing herself from him by walking to the other side of the recliner, "No. We can't do this…" she looked straight at him, the same cold, hurt stare she'd given him all those years ago, "We won't do it again."

Gage was hurt; he licked his lips, standing up to reach out to his partner, "Sydney?"

Sydney shook her head, running a hand through her hair, which had somehow become a tangled mess, "No Gage. It can't happen. We're too close now."

Gage let the hurt turn into anger; it was easier to deal with. His blue eyes burned into his partner, "Fine. Whatever. Just run away again, you always do."

Sydney bit back her retort, they were too close. Too close to closing the case, too close to ruin their friendship, their partnership. She had to make him see that. Keeping the recliner between them she softened a little, "Gage…look, I don't want to run. But I have to; somebody has to run from this…this…whatever this is. We're partners Gage. What do you want more? El Leon and his whole organization brought to their knees by two Junior Texas Rangers? Or to act on something that could be nothing more than a quick, hot affair?"

Gage had to work hard to keep his fists from clenching, "What if it could be something more? You haven't even given it a chance! We fit, Sydney, we fit really well."

Sydney smiled sadly, "I know."

Gage was humbled by her admission. She felt it too, that spark that flew when they were in one another's arms, "Then how can you say it would only be a short affair?"

Sydney looked into his eyes, her brown ones sad and tired, "We're under a lot of stress right now. We've been living together for five months, who knows what it is? All I know is that something that hot generally burns out fast…" she stopped him from continuing with a hand, "No, listen. If we act on it, we could ruin a lot. This investigation for one," Gage scowled, "But, more importantly, we could ruin our friendship. Gage, you've been the best friend to me since our Academy days. Please, let's just keep it that way."

Gage felt himself give, he actually felt the anger and hurt rush out of him. When she looked at him that way, how could he not give her what she asked? And, he silently admonished, she was right. They had a great friendship, and if it was just a fling, he nodded, his eyes holding hers, he didn't want to lose her as a friend either. The chance was too great.

Sydney relaxed visibly, smiling nervously she pointed to the duffel bag, "So…who do you think we should sell that to?"

Gage accepted her change of topic with a grin, "You know…I know a drug dealer who's been down in the dumps lately…maybe we should raise his spirits."


	13. Chapter 13: Julianne

_**Chapter Thirteen…the unlucky chapter…do you believe in such things? We're just tying up some loose ends people, before we move on to the excitement of the final month! Enjoy the Ride, Ckorkows.**_

**The Rangers – **a series based upon WTR, with the focus on the two rangers who joined the force in the seventh season, Ranger Cooke and Ranger Gage. The characters are borrowed directly from the TV series, and some plot elements relate to certain episodes, but the main ideas are original to the author. I do not claim the characters.

**Book 1: El Leon – **What happened before they joined Walker's team?

**Chapter 13: Julianne**

Walker and Trivette strolled into the interrogation room; their faces grim as they beheld the sight of FBI Agent Tim Jones sprawled out in his chair, a cocky grin on his skinny face.

Trivette smiled, the close-mouthed grin failing to reach his eyes as he took the chair across from Agent Jones, "You missed a call while you were locked up. Got any idea who it was?"

Jones smirked, and shrugged. He knew his rights and he wasn't going to talk.

Walker stood by the door, "El Leon called you."

Trivette finished Walker's thought, "You know why?"

Jones ignored the men, choosing to stare at an invisible dot on the wall.

Trivette slammed a tape recorder onto the table, "We do," standing up angrily, he pressed the play button. El Leon's voice rang out, bouncing off the walls in the small room, "Agent Tim…I need you to do another one of your fabulous background checks…on a Maria Torres. She's working for Ramon. Oh…and check up on her boyfriend, Alexander Bates. I'd hate for another rodent to weasel its way in…remember what happened to your dear, sweet Julianne. You have until tomorrow!"

Agent Jones paled at the mention of his partner, licking his lips as his eyes were drawn to Walker's.

Walker stared him down as Trivette continued, "So…El Leon's worried about a rodent, huh? Seems to me that he should have been worried about his own rat, and its ability to squeal."

Jones' eyes bulged and he spat at Trivette, "You ain't getting nothing out of me. I'll never squeal you pig!"

Walker smiled threateningly, "Oh, you'll do more than squeal, Jones. You're going to give El Leon what he wants."

Jones shook his head, standing up agitated, "No! You're an idiot if you think I'd cross a man like Leon. I know what you have to offer, and it's not enough. Nothing is enough! It's suicide to turn on El Leon."

Trivette looked at Walker, raising his black eyebrows and shrugging with a small, resigned smile, "You heard the man, Walker, he ain't gonna help us. Guess he'll just have to go down to Huntsville for a while."

Walker nodded, "Yup."

Trivette got up and led the way out of the room, Walker trailed him, stepping just outside of the small room before pausing, his hand on the doorknob.

He turned his head to face a smirking Agent Jones, "Say Jones," Walker remarked in a friendly tone, "You remember what they did to that one cop who went to Huntsville? What was his name again…Horace? He was a rat too, didn't make it too long once the other prisoners got wind of his career choice on the outside. I hear they tore him limb from limb…"

The smirk fell from Jones face and the remaining color his face drained away. His hands began to fidget as Walker shut the door firmly behind him, and he was visibly shaking. Walker and Trivette stood behind the glass, watching him sweat, both smiling broadly at the man's discomfort.

Trivette raised a brow in his partner's direction, "You think he'll talk?"

Walker nodded, "Oh yeah. He'll talk alright. No matter what El Leon can threaten, being a cop in jail is worse than that."

Trivette smiled and turned away, "I'll call RJ and have him send up the backgrounds for Sydney and Gage."

…..… ….

Sydney showed up to Dos Cervezas alone, sliding into the booth with her beer. She didn't have long to wait before Archer showed up, catching the waitress's eye before he joined her. Sydney's eyebrows went up when she saw how her coworker looked, Gage hadn't been joking when he'd said that Archer was taking Julianne's condition hard. The man looked like he hadn't slept in a week, his clothing was wrinkled and his face was hallow.

Sydney waited until the waitress had delivered their beers before smiling half-heartedly at Archer, "Ringo, you gotta stop beatin' yourself up over this."

Archer responded with a long drag on his beer, "I don't wanna talk Maria, where's the goods?"

Sydney sighed, _men_, and pinched her lips tight together, "You see Ringo…we're not sure you can handle what we got this time."

Archer's eyes flashed, just a little, and he spat out, "Then maybe you're sick of the color of my money?"

Sydney shook her head, leaning in a little closer to him, "No…maybe we like the color enough to let you give us more."

Archer raised his brows, his heart beating a little faster. The subtext was there, in the glint of her eyes, they'd done it. They had a big deal; they were the big runners for Ramon. Licking his lips he nodded in response to her question, knowing that if he spoke his voice might crack. The deeper his friends got, the more dangerous it was for them, but… they just might be the ones to break the El Leon organizations hold on Dallas.

Sydney smiled, he was back… at least for now. Dropping some money on the table, she strolled out of the bar, careful to sway her hips a little as Archer followed her. She walked down the street and turned into an alley not far from Dos Cervezas, strolling into the dark space between the buildings as if she did it every day. Archer followed, carefully scanning the street before slipping into the alleyway.

Sydney was standing by Gage at the very rear of the alley, a black duffel bag at their feet. Archer smiled brightly for the first time since he'd seen and recognized his former partner in that hospital bed. That duffel bag had to be stuffed with meth… damn they were good.

Gage tossed a sidelong glance at his partner before addressing Archer, "Maria tells me you are interested."

Archer nodded, his eyes clearing up, "Oh yeah. I'll take it."

Sydney laughed lightly, still playing it cool in case Ramon was watching, "No, you'll pay for it."

Ramon was indeed watching, from the inside of his black van, he held binoculars to his face and carefully read the lips of his two drug-runners. He smirked at Sydney's comment, he'd pay alright. Quickly pulling out his cell-phone, Ramon dialed the phone he had given Sydney.

The phone ringing interrupted their conversation and Sydney shot Gage a warning look, licking her lips nervously as she answered the call, "Hola, Maria…"

Ramon's slick voice oozed through the speakers, and Sydney's mind flashed to the cold look his eyes had had right before she had faded into darkness, certain that it was the same look he had in those eyes now, "Maria… tell Ringo you're only selling half of it to him. For full price."

Sydney unconsciously nodded as she responded, surreptitiously scanning the area in front of the alley for Ramon, "Si senor, may I ask why?"

Ramon smiled coldly, tapping Chavez on the shoulder to drive the van back to La Iglesia, "Call it whimsy, Maria, but I feel that Ringo should prove his loyalty to our product before we fill his pockets with gold. If he takes the deal, we'll hold the other half for him for the next time."

Sydney nodded as the line disconnected, Gage and Archer both looked at her, both a little on edge as she shrugged, "I've decided to sell only half, Ringo. For full price."

Archer's jaw dropped, Gage's too, and he sputtered, "But…bu…but…"

Sydney grabbed the handles of the duffel and slung it over her shoulder, walking past Archer and toward the entrance to the alleyway, she didn't feel Ramon's eyes on her anymore, but she wasn't going to take any chances, "But nothing. Either you prove your loyalty…or I find someone who can."

Turning she lifted a slender brow, smirking, "So, you gonna be a fool?"

Archer realized that if he didn't take the deal, his stint as Ringo Hart, coldhearted, profit-loving, drug dealer, would be over as quickly as the Rangers could fold the flag and hand it to his family, nodding, he scowled, "Fine. I'll play your games. But tell your puppet-master that I want double or nothing next time."

…..… ….

Julianne was in pain. Her head felt like it was being put through a giant nutcracker, the pressure squeezing in and out on her head, all at the same time. Every little movement caused sharp stinging sensations to go shooting through her brain. Whoever thought it possible for one to feel their brain?

She remembered the beating, remembered Ramon telling her that she was a dirty-rotten whore who needed to be taught a lesson. There had been someone else there, someone she hadn't seen before…and he'd wanted to help her…but couldn't. His blue eyes seemed imprinted on her memory as her ears picked up the low tones of male voices. She shivered, Ramon was back!

Trivette was trying to convince Archer to go home. He'd done nothing but sit by Julianne's side since he had recognized her…well, Trivette conceded, sit by her side and get drugs from Sydney and Gage. Not that he was doing that very well if Gage's reports were to be believed. It looked like they were going to need to get another drug-dealer in the streets for their Rangers to sell to, or it might start looking suspicious, especially since Ramon seemed to be tailing Sydney and Gage…

Trivette sighed, "Archer, come on, I'll stay here with her while you go home for a short nap. Then Walker or someone can bring you right back here. But you need to go home."

Archer shook his head, slumped in the chair beside his former partner he seemed to be ignoring Trivette completely and was simply staring at her face, "I should have recognized her Trivette…she shouldn't be here right now, the nurse said she might never come out of the coma!"

Wracking sobs broke through her nightmares, and for a moment Julianne thought that the heart-wrenching sounds were her own, she was mourning herself. But then she heard her name, _Julianne_, Ramon wouldn't know that name…unless she'd been discovered…but then she'd be dead…and her head wouldn't hurt. Pondering this, Julianne came to the conclusion that she must be alive.

Trivette had his hand wrapped around Archer's bicep and was ready to forcefully remove him from the room when he saw it. Her eyelids fluttered. Archer was still crying, sobbing with his face buried in his hands when Trivette yanked his arm a little, "Archer…I think she's moving."

Archer raised his face from his hands, his eyes sunken into his skull as he leaned forward until he was barely a breath away from her face, the tears on his face continued to flow as he saw a peak of her eyes, whispering he sought her hand with his own, "Julianne?"

Julianne was sinking again, into the darkness where Ramon waited to torture her. She felt herself slipping, losing sight of that one precious moment when she'd known who she was. She couldn't live in that dark place any longer. Even if she was alive now, if it was forever with Ramon, she wanted to be dead. For a moment she made her mind up, she couldn't fight it any longer, it was time to succumb. And then she heard it again, a faint whisper, a string no stronger than a spider's silk, tugging at her conscience, pulling her away from the darkness. _Julianne…_

Archer felt it, she squeezed his hand, he looked up at Trivette for half a second before squeezing her hand back, and continuing to talk, "Darling…Sweet Julianne, come on. Come back to me. I need you Julianne. Come on back."

Trivette read the look in Archer's eyes, the command in them, and quickly ran from the room, "Nurse! Nurse! She's waking up, we need a nurse."

Julianne was floating up, the pain was there, pounding away at her, but there was an angel's voice tugging her toward the light. She tried to open her eyes, suddenly understanding what was meant by the term, 'heavy eyelids'. Her eyelids felt like they were made of lead and had been soldered to the bottom lids. She giggled at the thought, surprised at the throaty, broken sound that escaped her as she struggled to open her eyes.

Archer heard the noise, he bit his bottom lip and squeezed her hand as her eyelids fluttered open, finally! Her brown eyes searched the ceiling and walls around her before resting on his face.

"Archer?" Her voice was weak, barely more than a hoarse moan, and it hurt, her mouth was dry and burning, her words were mere sounds, "Water…" she begged.

Archer nodded, unable to move away as he beheld the beautiful sight of her brown eyes staring back at him. Babbling, he didn't know what he was saying, but clung to the notion that if he kept talking her eyes would stay open, they would stay focused on his face, "Julianne…I've been waiting to see your eyes. I didn't leave; I knew that you wouldn't leave me if I stayed with you. You won't leave me, will you? I need you to look at me…please, look at me. Don't look away, don't close your eyes! I love your eyes, they're brown…so brown, and big, beautiful. They were the first thing I saw when we first met, you accused me of staring at your chest, but it was your eyes that captured me. When Fornell introduced us in Washington… No…no, please, don't close them, don't blink. I'm afraid that if you blink this will all have been a dream, I'll wake up and you will be laying there, still in a coma. I felt so helpless…please keep your eyes open, Julianne, please..."

Trivette ran in with the nurse and doctor close on his heels. The doctor motioned for him to move Archer and Trivette had to carefully peel his friend away from Julianne, "Come on now buddy, let the doctor check her out for a moment…then you can talk to her. She's awake, Archer, she's awake…"

Julianne nodded at the Doctor's questions, barely hearing him through the pounding sound of her own heartbeat, the blood rushing through her ears; her eyes never even looked at the other people in the room as she complied with Archer's request, and looked only at him.

…..… ….

FBI Agent Jones looked at the phone in front of him, shaking his head, "He's not going to buy it Ranger Walker, I just know he won't. Not after Julianne…"

Walker stood behind him, looking down at the two backgrounds that had been hastily created for the undercover Rangers, "Then make him believe it Tim or I'll be sure that it gets leaked that you're a cop. How many men have you sent to Huntsville?"

Running a hand through his greasy hair, Agent Jones dialed El Leon, praying that for once the horrible man would be preoccupied enough to let it ring through to voice mail.

It was not Jones' lucky day, "Agent Tim, I was afraid you had chickened out on me…"

Tim's voice wavered, but it always did when he spoke to El Leon, "I…I have what you want, senor. Maria Torres and Alexander Bates are clean."

El Leon was sitting at his desk, three of the beautiful woman who ran some of his clubs surrounding him, lighting his cigar and pouring his bourbon, one had her hands on his shoulders, giving him a sensuous massage. He stood up from his desk, brushing her hands away, and went to his office window, staring out at Dallas, "Oh? No one is ever clean Agent Tim…"

Tim glanced up at Walker, visibly shaking as he picked up one of the files, "Well, clean as in they're not cops. Alexander has been arrested a couple of times, mainly bar fights. Once recently in fact…"

El Leon pinched his lips, "Yes…we know about that, Ramon taught him quite a lesson for that one. What about Maria… any dirty little secrets on our little Chiquita?"

Tim shook his head, gnawing on a dried spot on his lip as he pretended to look through her file, "No, not much Leon. A few fights, bitch-fights to be exact… seems she gets jealous and protective of her men… and a couple of incidents with speeding tickets, one led to a minor assault on an officer, but she was let off because the man admitted to hitting on her, forcefully. She was caught with drugs once or twice, same as Alex, but nothing big enough for serious time."

Leon smiled, completely ignoring the woman who was dropping his pants as he continued, "Good work Agent Tim. I'll call you if I need you again."

The line went dead and Walker reached over Tim's shoulder to switch off the tape recorder before grabbing the phone and the files and heading toward the door, he opened it and acknowledged the guard, "Book him."

Agent Tim panicked, "Walker! Walker, wait, what do I get out of this? I just saved your Ranger's asses, aren't you going to let me go?"

Walker turned, his face dead serious and his eyes blank, "You're under arrest for accessory to the attempted murder of a Federal Agent. I might put in a good word with the D.A., recommending you be put in solitary."

The cuffs snapping shut on Tim's wrists punctuated Walker's empty promise.

…..… ….

Long after Agent Tim's call, El Leon stood alone, staring out across Dallas from his penthouse office. The cigar was now a burnt-out stub in his mouth, and his eyes were hard as he pondered Agent Tim's findings on Maria Torres. Leon's eye twitched ever so slightly as he remembered the conflict he'd seen in her eyes when he touched her. Disgust, fear, anger, excitement – he'd seen it all, but the thing that nagged at him was the control he'd seen. Few women, or men for that matter, had ever been able to look him in the eye, knowing they were facing life or death, and could keep their cool. She'd done it without so much as a flinch. He chewed the butt of his cigar, letting the tobacco fall apart in his mouth, mixing with his saliva.

With the whole city of Dallas below him, there was no one to hear his words, "Maria Torres… you will either be the greatest asset I've ever known - or you will be my greatest mistake."


	14. Chapter 14: Closer

_**Chapter Fourteen, I believe this might be the shortest chapter yet…and I apologize, but I wanted to give you guys something. We're a chapter or two away from the epic end to this tale, so please remember to fuel my creative energy with reviews, good and bad, and please…**_

_**Enjoy the Ride, Ckorkows.**_

**The Rangers – **a series based upon WTR, with the focus on the two rangers who joined the force in the seventh season, Ranger Cooke and Ranger Gage. The characters are borrowed directly from the TV series, and some plot elements relate to certain episodes, but the main ideas are original to the author. I do not claim the characters.

**Book 1: El Leon – **What happened before they joined Walker's team?

**Chapter 14: Closer**

Walker strolled into the hospital room, unsurprised at seeing Ranger Archer sitting loyally beside the recovering FBI agent. He smiled briefly as she opened her eyes with recognition, halting her conversation with the other man to address him, "Ranger Walker, thank you."

Walker raised an eyebrow at Archer, but the man refused to budge, so he decided to let the man stay and sat down at the end of Julianne's bed, "Agent Santiago, you don't know how good it is to see you awake. How are you feeling?"

Julianne smirked, glancing at Archer before she answered Walker's question, deciding to cut to the chase, "Well enough to answer any questions you have Ranger Walker. I suppose you want to know about my association with Ramon."

Walker withheld his smile, "Yes. We've got a couple of Rangers undercover with Ramon right now, but they've been in there for close to nine months now, I'm afraid that our time is running out. Can you tell us what you got from your investigation?"

Julianne paled visibly at the mention of Ramon's name and Archer immediately took charge, holding tight to his former partner's hand, "Ranger Walker, are you sure this is the best time… I think Julianne needs some rest."

Julianne interrupted her partner quickly, sensing the impatience in the older man, "Archer. It's fine. I'm sorry Walker; I didn't get very much on the organization above Ramon. Although I've compiled enough information in my reports to put that dirt bag away for a very long time, but I was unable to get the connection to El Leon. Ramon never even told me about him. And from what I've heard, your agents have gotten a lot farther than Tim and I did…well, maybe not farther than Tim."

Walker nodded, he had expected as much, but he still had to find out if she knew anything that could help his Rangers finish the job, "Julianne…did you ever have any suspicions, or hunches, about the case? Anything you can remember that might help us out…"

Julianne thought about it, mentally picturing the long hours she had spent as Ramon's right-hand lady. She remembered that Tim was often sent off to other clubs, with Chavez…what was it about Chavez? Early on she and Tim had been split up by Ramon, when she'd asked about it Ramon had told her… "Walker, Tim must know El Leon. Ramon split us up early on and would send Tim off to another club, The Highline, with Chavez. Soon after that Tim became distant, he wouldn't talk to me about what happened at The Highline…do you think that could be where El Leon hangs out?"

Walker pondered this for a moment before standing and acknowledging Archer and Julianne with a nod of his head before turning to leave, "We'll check it out."

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Sydney knew her part; she tugged on the hem of the tight little dress, trying to cover more of herself as she prepared to go out for the night. At Walker's suggestion, she had convinced Chavez to take her to another one of El Leon's clubs, claiming that Alexander wouldn't go dancing with her and she didn't want to go by herself.

She smiled, actually, Chavez had intercepted her when she went to ask Ramon to take her, informing her that the boss had business to take care of and couldn't see her today. She'd asked Chavez on the spur of the moment, deciding that she could have Gage stake out La Iglesia and check out what sort of 'business' Ramon was dealing with.

Gage sat in the living room, reclined back with a non-alcoholic beer in his hands as he glared at the television. Reruns of the unusual Byrd/Klitschko fight were airing before Byrd took on Klitschko's younger brother 'live in Germany'. Gage wasn't watching the TV so much as using it as cover. He had talked to Walker about going to the club with Sydney, but Walker had agreed with his partner that Gage should watch Ramon. Gage scowled as Klitschko threw his shoulder in the ninth round. At least he could console himself with the fact that Sydney's original plan, to go out with Ramon, had failed.

Sydney strolled out of the bedroom and walked in between her partner and the TV, half smiling to herself as she caught the look on her partner's face, "What's wrong Gage? Were you rooting for Klitschko?"

Gage focused on his partner, an electric shock zinging through him as he took in her high-high heels and her too-short dress. He sputtered on his beer as his eyes moved up to her face, "You're wearing that?"

Sydney laughed, twirling around the way she thought a girl going to Prom might, "You like?"

_Yes_, "Its okay," Gage tossed back another swig of beer, wishing that it had alcohol in it so that he could survive this conversation, "But don't you think you'll get cold?"

Sydney shrugged, turning around to snag a leather jacket, Gage's leather jacket, off the couch, "I've got a coat."

Gage gulped, his blue eyes burning pathways along the back of Sydney's thighs as she bent over to grab the coat, "Uh huh…"

Sydney whirled around, raising her eyebrows rapidly as the sound of a giant fist pounding on their door reverberated around the room, "Tongue-tied Alex?" she asked as she pulled open the door to greet her giant escort, "Chavez! I worried chu would change your mind."

Chavez grinned down at the beautiful woman, taking her hand and placing it on his arm the way he'd seen Ramon do with so many women, "Maria, you look beautiful."

Gage's face darkened as he greeted the other man, "Chavez. Nice to see you."

Chavez jerked his head in Gage's direction, briefly glancing at the other man before his eyes returned to Sydney's face, "Alex. I don't know why you wouldn't want to go dancing with Maria…but, your loss."

Gage shrugged, trying to keep in character as he glanced back at the TV, "Byrd is taking on Klitschko's brother. I wouldn't miss this fight for the world."

Sydney felt Chavez pause, not a good sign when it came to men and their boxing…hell, she admitted to herself, she'd rather be curled up on the couch rooting against Gage's boxer than going out to a noisy club…she tugged gently on Chavez' arm, giving him what she hoped was a stunning smile, "Come on Chavez, I heard the Highline is playing Salsa tonight…"

Chavez shrugged off his love of boxing and escorted Sydney out the door, pausing a moment before he shut it on Gage to toss over his shoulder, "Byrd's got nothing on that kid, he's gonna lose it."

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Gage waited about fifteen minutes after Chavez left with Sydney before he stood up, popping a tape in the TV to record the fight before he left the apartment. Slowly he made his way down the street toward La Iglesia, stopping into the occasional bar to drink a longneck and catch a snippet of the match before moving on. He didn't want to get to La Iglesia too early, but he also didn't want to leave Sydney alone at the Highline with Chavez for too long. Gage couldn't decide if he was jealous of Chavez, or if he was worried because Chavez was flat-out huge and he didn't want Sydney to get hurt if her cover was blown. As he approached the familiar nightclub he settled for the latter and stumbled toward the back door.

Ramon and some of El Leon's henchmen were enjoying some cigars when he heard the furious pounding on his back door. Cursing, Ramon stood, angry enough to answer the door himself.

Gage sagged drunkenly against the door, banging his fist into the door as though it were his last lifeline. When his pounding wasn't answered immediately, he started yelling hoarsely, "Goddamit Ramon! I know you're hiding that brute. Let me in, I'm gonna kill him!"

Ramon flung the door open and Gage crashed onto the floor at his feet. Gage unsteadily got to his feet before Ramon could haul him up and punch him, casting a quick look around the room to size up his competition as he glared at Ramon, "Where are you hiding him?"

Ramon was almost at a loss for words, but realizing that the men in the room were watching, he quickly pushed Gage backwards, spitting out, "Get out Alex, before you get yourself hurt."

Gage figured that the next few moments would either make or break the entire investigation for them; he lowered his head and snarled, "Chavez. Give me Chavez and I'll take him out back to finish this."

Some of the henchmen glanced at one another, even though the guy was drunk they couldn't imagine being in any sort of mind and wanting to take on Chavez. Ramon rolled his eyes, patting Gage's cheek, "Go home Alex. Chavez is gone, he'll be back later."

Gage scowled, reaching out to grab Ramon's lapels, not angrily so much as to get his attention, "He's wit Maria. That bastard thinks he's good enough to take my girl…I'll kill him!"

Ramon's eyes flashed with unrecognizable emotion and in seconds he had Gage pinned against the wall, his forearm across his throat. His voice was the low, threatening rumble of storm clouds, "What did you say?"

Gage smiled inwardly - Chavez didn't tell his boss, "Maria wanted to go out tonight…some club, dancing, but it's the fight. I tol' her we'd go after the fight. She didn't wait, Chavez showed up and took her. He ain't gonna get away wit it though, I'm gonna kill him!"

Ramon slowly released pressure on Gage's throat, glancing at a couple of the henchmen before smiling at Gage and wrapping his arm around his neck in camaraderie, "Now, now…I'm sure Chavez just went to protect her. You don't want your woman dancing in a club all alone, wearing tight little outfits and readily available for any man to pick up, do you?"

Gage suddenly had the mental image of Sydney, wearing that too-tight dress, kicking a guy's knee out just for asking to dance with her; he thawed a little, allowing Ramon to lead him toward his desk, "No. No…you're right…"

Ramon was seething inwardly. How dare Chavez take off with Maria, and to the Highline of all places, but he cajoled Alex, deciding the burly man was the bigger problem at the moment, "I bet Maria knew how you'd feel, so she asked Chavez to take her to the club to protect her. Really Alex, can you picture Chavez dancing?"

Gage had to smile at that, the picture of Chavez executing the intricate footwork required to dance the salsa, it was just too much, "Your right Alex. I'm sorry…guess I didn't think about it like that."

Ramon nodded, "And Alex…if Chavez even touches your woman, I guarantee you that you can have first shot at him."

The men in the room roared with laughter as Ramon escorted Gage to the back door. His dark eyes were met with the steely blue gaze of the other man as Gage replied, "If anything happens to her there won't be a second shot."

The door closed and Ramon turned to look at the other men, raising an eyebrow and tipping his head toward the door, "What do you think?"

One of the men who had been sitting in the background came forward, walking with an air of superiority as he took Ramon's chair behind the desk, "He's got grit. Set up the meeting Ramon."

Ramon nodded as El Leon began the meeting, completely unaware of the bug that had been planted on the doorframe.


	15. Chapter 15: El Leon

_**Chapter Fifteen is exciting. It features parts from the first episode Sydney and Gage were in, "Countdown", way back in season seven – although I've edited it a little to mesh better with my plot. The El Leon case is coming to a close and Sydney and Gage are getting ready to kick some serious rear! This first book has been such a pleasure to write, and I'll hopefully start up a second book in a while so please remember to fuel my creative energy with reviews – good, bad or ugly - and please…**_

_**Enjoy the Ride, Ckorkows.**_

**The Rangers – **a series based upon WTR, with the focus on the two rangers who joined the force in the seventh season, Ranger Cooke and Ranger Gage. The characters are borrowed directly from the TV series, and some plot elements relate to certain episodes, but the main ideas are original to the author. I do not claim the characters. And I don't claim the small portion of the episode, "Countdown", which spans from the bottom of page 3 to the bottom of page 5 (give or take). Most of the words were directly quoted, so please don't sue me or cry plagiarism…they totally belong to the makers of WTR and I have barely altered them just to fit the final plot. They ain't my words and I don't want them! (Okay, I do, but I didn't write them so yeah…my butt is covered.)

**Book 1: El Leon – **What happened before they joined Walker's team?

**Chapter 15: El Leon **

Sydney and Gage were at their breaking point. The Highline had been a bust, Chavez had kept Sydney confined to the dance floor the whole night, and Gage's bug had blitzed out - catching only the start of El Leon's conversation in Ramon's back room, which wasn't enough to incriminate him. The two partners were stuck in somebody else's tire ruts, travelling along the lane in the right direction, but unable to control their own steering. They felt like they really were drug runners, and that that was all they would ever be.

Both partners were sprawled out on the ugly love-seat, their legs tangled together in the middle of the sofa as the each claimed an opposite arm for their heads. Game Show Network was playing reruns of _Jeopardy_ and Gage was half-heartedly calling out the answers. Nine months, to the day, they had been Alex and Maria, acting and living like a lower-class interracial couple with issues. For six months they had been moving goods for Ramon, selling hundreds of pounds of coke to their Ranger friend, Archer. But it wasn't enough, so much more was getting past them. Gage had purposely broken the remote so that they were stuck on Game Show Network, it was the only network that they got that didn't show the news. News was too depressing for the Junior Rangers right now, every night it seemed like another kid wound up dead because of a cocaine overdose, another dealer was arrested, and five more families were ruined because of El Leon's stupid organization. And every painful news flash reminded the two Rangers that they were failing.

Sydney's sigh was heavy as she stared at the popcorn ceiling. Walker and R.J. had been talking about pulling them out. It had been too long; they had gotten too far but hadn't gotten far enough. She felt like they were in limbo - stuck between the television and their weekly drug deal, and that just didn't seem like the right place for them. But somehow, no matter how much she tried, she couldn't get herself to feel as fiercely about the case as she had when they'd started.

Gage felt her sigh all the way through the couch, tossing the remote at the TV in an effort to hit the power button; he rocked his head back and forth in frustration. They were getting lazy, he thought. Sure, they sparred on a daily basis to keep their skills up, but they had gotten lazy in the investigation. Somewhere between finding out that the bug had failed and discovering yet another dead body with Ramon's fingerprints on it, they had stopped pushing. Gage felt sick to his stomach at the thought of not finishing what they'd started. He always finished a case…always.

Pushing away from his lounge, Gage gripped the shorts-clad legs of his partner and looking at her with a small spark in his hallow eyes, "Why?"

Sydney looked down to where Gage's callused hands burned into her thighs, grasping the question he was asking and knowing that they should have had this conversation a month ago. "Because we're tired. Tired of playing the puppet to Ramon's show. Tired of waiting for El Leon to make his move. Tired of doing the things we took a solemn oath not to do. We're tired and we've fizzed out."

Gage smirked a little, his humor rising as his partner stared at him levelly. He knew she was just as upset with the both of them as he was, "Yeah, but what happened to the Wonder Team? The two Junior Rangers who were making every Ranger from Company A to D jealous? Why'd we get lazy? Look at us, Sydney…I mean, you're getting fat."

Sydney looked down at herself, she was not getting fat! Her curves were just finally kicking in. She glared at her partner, "Oh yeah, what about you tubby? I bet you've lost that wonderful six-pack you've always been so proud of."

Gage yanked up his t-shirt, bending his head at an awkward angle to check out what was definitely no longer a six-pack. He looked over at his partner, dropping his shirt and gripping her legs once more, shaking them, "Exactly! What happened to us? We literally had this in the bag. Now we're just sitting here, rotting on our couch and waiting for Walker to finally decide to pull us out. If and when that happens El Leon is going to rule this town."

Sydney scrubbed a hand across the small scar on her neck, her eyes regaining some of that original fire, "He can't rule this town, Gage, we rule it. The Rangers do."

Gage smiled fully, his teeth a gleaming proof that at least they hadn't lost their sense of personal hygiene. "Some rulers we are sweet-cakes. Sitting here watching Alex ask inane questions to the Jeopardy hopefuls. What a throne we have! What would Walker say if he could see us now?"

Sydney smirked, picturing her hero's hard-lined face scowling down at the two of them, "We'd be done. We're not doing our job anymore. Heck, I bet he'd even demote us to traffic cops."

Gage laughed, they were getting there, he'd just push a few more buttons and she'd knock him right out of this funk. "You know I hear they don't just let any Chiquita's be traffic cops. You might be out of a job sweetheart."

Yeah, that did it. Sydney seemed to fold over herself in order to scramble on top of her partner, the fire that she'd had at the beginning of the investigation returning as she pummeled his chest with her fists, "What did I tell you about that nickname?"

Gage was laughing, trying to push his partner off of him and blocking her blows – which she wasn't holding back on – at the same time. As he was about to respond he heard a distinct knock at the door that froze both him and his partner. He glanced up at the woman straddling him, her fist poised in mid air as she cocked her head toward the door with wide eyes. Yeah, he knew that knock too…Ramon always had the worst timing.

Gage morphed into Alex, "Yeah, it's open!"

Sydney dropped her hands to his chest, preparing to remove herself from him, but Gage held her on top, tugging her arms to his shoulders so that she was forced to bend over even more, her breasts swaying loose inside her cami. He locked eyes with her for a second, his own serious and steely, sharing a brief, fiery gaze with her as the door creaked open and Ramon walked into their apartment as though he owned the place.

Sydney tore her gaze from her partners, they were going to push, it was now or never, and glanced up at Ramon, smiling sensually as she extracted herself from her partner's limbs, "Ramon, you have the worst timing, si?"

Ramon smiled, his eyes burning holes through the female's sparse clothing as he imagined that it was he, not the idiot Alex, beneath her, "Si, senorita, pero…"

Sydney caught the hint and giggled, nervously - he didn't need to say what he was thinking about. She nodded, quickly glancing at Gage to make sure he was up and fetching some beers before speaking, "Whatchu want wit us today senor? We already made the drop dis week."

Ramon took the beer Gage handed him, ignoring it completely as he met his dealer's eyes with a cold smile, "I want a lot from you, Chiquita…pero hoy…es El Leon. The boss wants to meet with you," he shifted his gaze to his former bouncer's face, "both of you. So get dressed."

Gage dropped his jaw, his mind racing a million miles a minute, they wouldn't have time to call Walker, they'd have no backup…if this was what he thought it was…he shut his mouth and slid his eyes over to his partner, seeing her pursed lips, "You know boss, we've heard a lot about El Leon from the boys, how can we be sure we'll be coming back to our apartment if we go with you? I want to make money, not die for it."

Ramon took two steps until he was face to face with the other man, his eyes flashing hot and cold as he snarled, "If you don't come you'll wind up dead in your apartment. Comprende?"

Sydney jumped forward, resting her hand on Ramon's arm and tugging at it slightly, her eyes communicating apologies for her boyfriend as she lowered her voice to a warm whisper, "Si, si senor. We understand. We're just…Alex, he likes to get bonuses. And it's been a while since we got a bonus. He's just itchy senor…we both are." Sydney made sure to lower her eyelashes and nibble her lip after her last sentence. If they came out of this meeting alive she would need to get closer to Ramon…much closer.

Ramon never smiled, though he backed away and appreciated the flirtatious gaze of the idiot man's woman, "Yes. Now, go change… El Leon does not appreciate lateness."

Gage managed to snag Maria's phone from the coffee table as Sydney darted toward the bedroom. One of two things was going to happen at El Leon's garbage collection agency, and he figured that he'd like backup no matter which was going down. He followed his partner into the bedroom and shut the door, racing into the adjoining bathroom to make the call as his partner squeezed herself into Maria's usually tight clothing. He finished and dropped the phone into his shirt pocket; silently answering the raised eyebrows on his partner's newly energized face. This was it. Finally.

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Walker leaned back in his chair and waited for his partner to guess his card.

"Three of hearts!" Trivette had a sneaky little grin on his face as he announced his partner's card.

"Queen of spades."

Trivette tossed down the book he'd been using, "Stupid book!"

Walker laughed; his partner was always trying some new scheme or another. "I know a magic trick. I can tell you every card in that deck without looking."

Trivette smiled eagerly, choking back a scoff, "You cannot."

Walker smiled and told Trivette to shuffle the deck, demonstrating his trick with deadly accuracy as his partner looked on with growing frustration, "How'd you do that?"

Walker laughed, the phone ringing, "You know the magicians code, if I tell you I have to kill you." Walker picked up the phone, his smile fading to seriousness, "Walker. Okay Gage, we'll meet you there."

Trivette glanced over the card he held, trying Walker's trick and failing miserable. He raised his eyes to Walker's face, questioning him. Walker snagged his Stetson from its post behind his desk, "That was Ranger Gage; it's going down…now."

Trivette dropped his card, following his partner out of the room as a sense of urgency overtook both of them, they did not want to find the two Junior Rangers in the same condition they'd found FBI Agent Julianne.

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Ramon and Chavez escorted the two Rangers into the empty warehouse. El Leon stood alone in the middle of the concrete space, a cat-eating-the-canary smile on his face as the group approached him. Sydney got a sick feeling in her stomach when Chavez and Ramon flanked the stranger, automatics appearing in their hands as if out of thin air.

Gage shot his partner a look, eyebrows raised; this man didn't match the description that she'd given in her report. She took in the dark-skinned Mexican man, his bald head, mustache, and cold eyes that reminded her of Ramon - it was not the same guy she'd met the first time she was 'escorted' here.

Her voice was steady as she spoke, chomping on pink gum to keep in character and to calm her nerves, "You're El Leon?"

The man nodded, his eyes running up and down Sydney's body much the same way Ramon's did, "Indeed I am. Mi hermano, Ramon, has told me a lot about you two…says you been our best runners and you're looking to take a step up."

Gage nodded, "That's right."

"If you think you can handle it." Sydney interjected, hoping to get the real Leon to say something incriminating…this wasn't going down quite the way they had planned.

Leon kept his face impassive, shrugging slightly as he answered the petite lady, "Oh, believe me. I can handle it." He turned his eyes on Gage, "But before I meet with anyone I like to know who I'm dealing with. And, uh, as a matter of fact I checked you both out personally."

He let that sink in, smiling as the two people before him showed no signs of losing their cool. "The funny thing…I couldn't find a thing on either one of you..."

Gage's heart began to race, fear for himself and his partner pulsing beneath his cool exterior, "What're you talking about?"

Leon continued, noticing the way his brother's employees glanced at one another, "What I'm talking about is… you either don't exist, or you're cops. And since I'm standing right here looking at both of you, that means you do exist." He let his conclusion hang, waiting for the pleas, the excuses, the lies.

They didn't come.

Sydney smacked Gage on the arm, her mind whirring at super speed as she turned on him, "I told you this wasn't going to work. I told you El Leon was too smart for dis."

Gage, always amazed at his partner's quick thinking, said the first thing that popped into his head, knowing he would regret it later, "It's not because he's so smart…it's because you're so stupid!"

Sydney snarled, not having to control her facial expression at all as she responded, El Leon and the men flanking him looking on in confusion, "Who you callin' so stupid, eh?"

Gage jerked his head up and they turned, kicking into Ramon and Chavez to disarm them at the same time. Their training kicked in and they worked to take down their opponents, Ramon and Chavez circling around Sydney as another man, the fake El Leon, swooped in to help El Leon fight Gage. Walker and Trivette stormed in through the back of the warehouse, taking out gunmen as they raced to help the Junior Rangers before they were overrun by the backup El Leon had positioned around the warehouse.

Chavez didn't really want to fight the little woman he'd grown so fond of. He stood back throwing half-hearted punches at her until she slammed her foot into his face and knocked him down, where he remained passively as his boss took a swing at the lady. Ramon tugged a knife from his belt and smiled cruelly at Sydney, seeing her only as he planned to make her – bloody and beaten. Sydney wasn't a helpless female tied to a chair however, and the knife went spinning from his elegant fingers before he knew what hit him. He snarled at the woman as her fist connected with his face, grabbing her arm and twisting it around behind her only to have her foot connect with his stomach.

Gage discovered that El Leon wasn't the best scrapper in the world, easily ducking his wide hooks and flooring him with a hard kick to the stomach. The man scrambled back up again, only to be met with more accurate strikes from the young Ranger. The second man came up behind Gage, intent on slamming a heavy piece of wood into his shoulder. Gage swung around and pummeled the man's face until both he and the piece of wood dropped to the ground.

The warehouse settled into silence as Walker and Trivette finished their fights, gathering nearer to the squabbling Junior Rangers as sirens sounded in the background. Everyone was smiling, eyes bright as DPD stormed the building with dogs and handcuffs.

El Leon was marched past Sydney, spitting out at her as the officer guiding him tweaked his arms, "Lousy cops!"

Sydney smirked, her dark eyes meeting her partners as their target was finally led away for good, "Actually, we're not cops. We're Texas Rangers."

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R.J. sat at his desk, two manila folders with very familiar names lying on the wood in front of him. A third file, so thick that the manila envelope barely contained its contents, rested on top of a stack of evidence boxes…everything his two Rangers had collected over their nine-month investigation. He sighed and pressed the intercom button, "Linda…go ahead and send them in."

R. J. hated this part of his job. He leaned back in his chair and invited the two Rangers in when a knock sounded at the door. They were smiling and laughing, arguing over one of the pieces of crappy furniture they had bought together during their investigation.

The corners of Gage's mouth dropped just a little when he saw the look on R.J.'s face, "You wanted to see us boss?"

R.J. looked from face to face, allowing a smile to cross his own somber features as he observed his Rangers for the first time in over eight months. They looked good. Gage, he'd heard, had been beaten pretty badly by Chavez, but he looked just as cocky as ever. Ranger Cooke had a small scar on her neck that was fading, but he figured that it would be a reminder not to take so many damned risks next time. They'd done good, he thought, and decided to tell them exactly that.

He stood up behind his desk, reaching across it to shake his Rangers' hands, "Ranger Cooke, Ranger Gage…on behalf of Captain Bruscoe, Ranger Walker, and the rest of us here I wanted to congratulate you on a job well done. You were our last hope for taking down El Leon and I couldn't have picked a better team."

Sydney was grinning broadly, excited about receiving such high praise on her first assignment with the Rangers. Gage, however, read the hesitation between the words and raised an eyebrow at the older man, "But?"

R.J. ignored Gage's question, "Because of you we were able to completely dismantle the entire organization, putting over 42 busts on the D.A.'s desk this week alone. You also convinced Ramon's right hand man, Chavez, to roll on both Ramon and his brother, El Leon, which means that both the Leon brothers will be going to Huntsville for a very long time."

Sydney glanced up at her partner and noticed how his expression was darkening, she pursed her lips and looked between the two men in the room, echoing her partner's previous question as an unsettling feeling took hold in her stomach, "But?"

R. J. shook his head, they did work well together. He hedged a little, "As you both know, FBI Special Agent Santiago is recovering nicely at St. Martin's, she is very grateful and appreciative of what you both did to save her."

He looked between the two partners as they stood, side by side, in front of his desk, eyebrows raised in almost identical expressions. He ran a hand through his thinning hair and grabbed the files off of his desk, "Ranger Archer has decided to take a leave of absence from the force. He and Agent Santiago seem to have some…un-resolved feelings to take care of…"

Gage snorted and Sydney's face burst into a grin as he interrupted, "Geez R.J. The man proposed to her, it's not like he's going to be gone forever."

R.J. frowned; yes…the man had proposed to his former partner, further solidifying the Sergeant's decision concerning the two Rangers standing before him, "Yes…well… as I was saying. Ranger Archer is taking a leave of absence, with leaves his partner, Jones, without backup."

Gage got a sinking feeling in his gut as he glanced over at the brunette woman beside him. Her smile was slowly dropping too as R.J. continued, looking down at the files in his hands instead of at the Rangers in front of him, "Ranger Gage. Jones has requested that you be assigned as his partner during Archer's…vacation. He worked with you loosely during the El Leon investigation and I agree that you two will work well together."

He handed one of the folders to Gage, meeting the angry stare with finality in his tone. Ranger Cooke looked at the other file in his hand and asked, "What about me?"

R.J. laid the second folder on his desk, pushing it towards the woman as he maintained eye contact with the male Ranger, "I hate to do this Ranger Cooke, but there really isn't another active duty position available at this moment. The records department has a temporary position open for you..." he glanced at the too-controlled expression on Cooke's face and reached across the desk as if to comfort her, "Just until an active position becomes available…I'm sorry Cooke…but if you want to remain a Ranger this is the only thing I've got…"

Gage ruptured, his voice ripping itself out of his throat in an angry burst, "What? After all she's done for you, after El Leon, you're just going to break us apart and move her back to Records? This isn't fair R.J."

The Sergeant shot Gage a warning glance, this was territory he would rather not step on, "I know it isn't, but there isn't an opening…"

Gage cut in, planting his fists on his superior's desk, "Then give me the job in Records. Sydney can work with Jones."

Sydney caught the look of embarrassment that crossed R.J.'s face and laid a hand on Gage's forearm, effectively drawing his gaze to hers. Even as disappointment coursed through her she managed to smile a little, "It's okay Gage. Another position will open up and I'll be on active duty in no time."

Gage refused to be comforted, "No. No. R.J. I refuse to work with Jones; you're just going to have to put Sydney on as his partner. I want to work in Records."

R.J. frowned, he knew it was going to go down this way, but he had really hoped it wouldn't, "Ranger Gage, I can't."

Gage looked back and forth between R.J.'s reddening face and Sydney's surprisingly pink one, "Why not?"

Sydney pleaded a little, her eyes flicking back and forth between her former partner and her boss, "Gage, don't…"

Gage narrowed his eyes, curling his lip as he grabbed the star that stood proudly on Sydney's breast, dragging her jacket front forward a little as he shook the silver badge at R.J. "This gives her every right to work as Jones' partner. Every right. Give her the damn job!"

R.J. was beet red now, angry and embarrassed he tossed out the words he had never wanted to say, "He didn't want her, Gage. I offered and he…he won't work with her."

Gage's eyebrows crowded the bridge of his nose as sudden, awful realization settled over him, "Wha…?"

Sydney felt the tears burn her eyes, pinching her lips together tightly so that they wouldn't fall. She had known it, when R.J. had tried to hedge Gage, she'd known it. And it had hurt then, but hearing the words… she turned her head away and closed her eyes, carefully wrapping up her hurt pride, her anger, into a little package to be tossed away like the rest of them. When she opened them Gage was looking at her with those big, blue eyes, sadness and anger swirling in them like a heady cocktail. She lifted half of her mouth into a smile, patting the arm that her hand still laid on.

"It's okay, Gage. You're senior anyway. I'll just wait for an active position. Who knows, maybe R.J. will let you pick your own partner once Archer comes back."

Gage glanced at R.J. seeing his closed off look and knowing that that wouldn't happen in a million years. He smiled down at Sydney, placing his big hand over hers as he argued just once more, "But it isn't fair. You should be out there kicking butt and showing off your stuff. It shouldn't matter to him that you're…you're…"

Sydney smiled sadly and grabbed her file off the desk, her eyes meeting R.J.'s with a fiercely determined spark in them, "Thanks for the chance R.J. I hope I proved to you that I can be a valuable asset to the team…when a position opens up of course."

R.J. nodded, admiring her calm demeanor one final time as she gently led her former partner out of the room. He collapsed back into his chair the moment the door swung shut, praying to the higher being that he hadn't just ruined two promising careers with his decision.

Sydney leaned against the wall outside R.J.'s office, much the same way she had done nine months ago. She looked up into her former partner's face and smiled a little, not knowing what to say.

Gage's sad eyes swept over her, memorizing every line and curve of her as he swallowed his anger. His voice was a little rough when he broke the silence, "So…this is it?"

Sydney nodded, "I guess so…"

Gage glanced back at the door, "I could quit you know…"

Sydney shook her head, grabbing Gage's bicep and pulling him a little closer, "It won't make a difference. I won't work with Jones either…I can't work with someone who won't trust me to have their back."

Gage let himself get wrapped up in her eyes, her deep mocha eyes that had shared every emotion imaginable with him over the past nine months. He tried to imagine waking up and not seeing those eyes staring at him over the breakfast table, tried to imagine going home at night to an empty couch to watch re-runs of "Murder, She Wrote" just because it reminded him of her. He couldn't.

"Sydney…"

Sydney memorized his face, pinching back tears as she stood up on tiptoes to make her eyes level with his. She was going to miss his face - how it broke into a smile when he laughed at her, with her, how his eyes turned dark and cloudy when he was angry or upset with himself, how his eyebrows drew together in confusion when she used word-play in a joke. She met his eyes as her hand came up to cup his cheek.

Maintaining eye contact, she leaned forward, her lips brushing the corner of his mouth before she dropped down to the flat of her feet again, "Goodbye Gage."

_**The End.**_


End file.
